Eight Spokes
by kotobaka
Summary: Eight girls locked in a never-ending cycle, spinning together like the spokes of a wheel. How long will it hold after the spokes begin to break?
1. Prologue

Hello, everyone! This is a fic cross-posted from my tumblr that I thought would be best to be archived here as well. It is a Madoka Magica/Homestuck crossover, with a humanstuck AU additional setting to make the plot a little more manageable. I am actually very happy with the way this story is panning out, but I'll let you decide that for yourselves. Enjoy!

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><p><span>Eight Spokes<span>

_And the wheel of salvation continued to turn until the eighth spoke snapped_

"Is that everything, then?" said Kyubey, staring placidly at her.

Rose looked down at the radiating barrier. She gripped her wands more tightly. "For her it is."

Kyubey blinked. "And you?"

Rose ground the rooftop gravel underfoot, watched the city lights glint off the lavender soul gem on her sash. "I am not finished here yet."

"But you will be soon."

A beat. "The days of a puella magi are always numbered. I still have enough time to finish what I must."

"Finish, you say," the strange white creature said, "So whether you succeed or fail is irrelevant?"

Rose stared hard at the shimmering miasma, but did not speak. Instead, she gritted her teeth and jumped over the side of the roof, sailing down to meet the witch.

Kyubey shook his head and sighed. "Human emotions are such curious, unnecessary things," he said, "And to think some even go to such great lengths to hide them, to keep themselves from bursting with it. How odd."

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><p>A note about the quote at the beginning (mine because I'm a hipster) from in the article about the number 8: "In the spiritual world, eight is the goal for the initiates, that went through the seven heavens, to regain paradise. Full of grace by the eigth day the man was created. After seven days of fasting and abstinence, the eighth became the day of abundance and renewal. The octagon is the beginning of the transformation of the square into the circle and vice versa. The eight is the double four and the second power of two,<p>

thus the eight includes the qualities of these numbers in an expanded form. It is a figure which has no particular drive, but as a dormant center it is located in the heart of the movement, which is for instance shown in the Buddhist wheel of salvation (which has eight spokes)."


	2. A Favor

Eight Spokes

_Chapter 1: A Favor_

The girls restroom smelled strongly of orange children's vitamins as Terezi Pyrope pushed open the door. She grinned that toothy smile to herself as she adjusted her red glasses balanced on her nose; she loved the smell of warm colors. Tapping her cane along the yummy orange tiles in rhythm, she strolled around the corner to the sinks until she stopped dead in her tracks and wrinkled her nose at this new smell. Cigarette smoke. Someone was _smoking_ in _school_? Not happening.

Terezi scowled as she approached the group of girls lazing around the sinks, enjoying their vile—_illegal—_pastime. She prodded one of them with her cane and demanded, "No smoking on school grounds! Throw those out immediately! And I'll be writing up an infraction for you, Vriska, this is the second time I've caught you red-handed!"

The girl Terezi had poked turned around—laughed, ran her hand through her long dark hair. She sneered at Terezi and said, "Oh look who it is! Redglare, don't you ever get tired of wandering around the halls all day, just _looking_ for trouble?"

"Don't call me that," Terezi frowned, beginning to wring her cane in her hands—nervous habit, "Smoking is illegal for minors and is not permitted on campus!"

Vriska stood up and leaned against the counter, taking a long drag of her cigarette and exhaling a thin stream of smoke in Terezi's face. The other girls laughed.

Terezi swatted away the smoke and stood up straight, indignant. Vriska smirked down at her; she only came up to her chin. "I'll report you, Vriska. I will! And I can tip off the tabloids about this, I'm sure they'd love to hear what you get up to when you actually bother to show up to school!"

Vriska smirked again and stood up. She sauntered up to Terezi, tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. She snaked her hand down Terezi's arm to hold her hand, pressing her cigarette stub to the other girl's uniform sleeve. She held her wrist tightly as Terezi squirmed about, biting her lip and willing herself not to react. Vriska knelt down on one knee and kissed the burn, grinning up at Terezi as she yanked her arm away and ran out of the bathroom, the group of girls laughing after her. "Whatever you say, hall monitor!"

"Okay, here's your stop," Dave said, turning around to give a casual thumbs-up to his sister in front of one of the school's mod all-glass classrooms.

Rose looked impassively back at him and adjusted her bag. "So protective all of a sudden," she said.

Dave crossed his arms. "No, it's your first day of classes," he said, expressionless as ever, "Besides, a coolkid like me escorting his twin sister to class has all kinds of irony just waiting to happen."

"Naturally," Rose said. She walked into the classroom and took her seat, watching Dave out of the corner of her eye as he did the same in the classroom next door. It was strange having a brother again after all these years, and she could tell that even under all that irony and coolness, Dave felt odd about having a girl in the apartment. Even his—their?—dad felt strange about it, having this awkward reminder of his failed marriage and divorce in his house.

The classroom began to fill up. A girl with red glasses and a cane—blind, perhaps?—walked in and took her seat at the front of the classroom. She was rubbing her wrist, and Rose couldn't help but wonder what kind of trouble a blind girl could get into in a place like this.

A boy with huge glasses sat down beside Rose. He turned in his seat and smiled at her, buck teeth protruding slightly out of his grin and completing his incredibly dorky appearance. He extended his hand and said, "Hi! I'm John, John Egbert. You're the new girl, aren't you?" When Rose didn't respond right away and just looked back at him, He smiled sheepishly and sank down into his chair. "S-Sorry if that was rude. What's your name? I gotta know what to call my new neighbor!"

Rose gave a curt nod, a tiny smile. He seemed alright, and she recognized the name from one of the rare times Dave talked to her. He'd said John was his good friend—a useful acquaintance for her, then. "A pleasure, John," she said, shaking his hand, "I am Rose… Lalonde." Not Rose Strider. Everything one step at a time.

John blushed deep pink and grinned at her again. "Nice to meet you, Rose! Hey, you wouldn't be Dave's sister, would you? You guys look so alike and he said something about a sister named Rose—"

"Yes. That would be me."

"Oh wow, that's awesome! I can't wait to hang out more, Rose, you seem really cool! Dave and I hang out all the—oh hi, Kanaya!"

Rose turned in her seat to see who John was waving at. A girl gave a tiny wave to John as she sat down in the desk in front of Rose. "Good morning, John." She paused, her school bag sitting on her desk and her hands—rather elegantly, Rose observed—resting just above the snap, as if holding onto a light thought that could float away without warning. She blinked, turned to Rose. "You must be the new student," she said kindly, "I am Kanaya Maryam, please let me know if I can help with anything."

"Kanaya's the class rep," John added with another dorky smile, "She's really cool!"

"I try," Kanaya said, more quietly this time, before turning back to her desk and getting situated for class.

The teacher hurried in at promptly eight-ten and started in on the day's math lecture about basic trigonometric functions. Rose tried to pay attention and take down notes until she heard John hissing at her, "Psst! Hey!"

"Yes, Egbert?"

"Um… I just wanted to ask a favor," he whispered, "I mean, it's fine if it's too much trouble, I totally get it, but—"

"What is it. You seem terribly eager to inform me of it in a timely manner."

"Well… it's my sister. Half-sister, really. She's been living with her grandpa for a while but now she's on exchange here for the year staying with me and my dad, of course. Family and stuff."

"What an intriguing family history. I am just falling all over myself to learn more."

"Yeah, really confusing, isn't it? Anyway, I thought you could talk to her! I mean, since Dave and me hang out a lot and so I guess you and Jade—that's her name, Jade—will see each other a lot, too, I thought the four of us could be friends! With you guys having your girl friendship or whatever you want to call it, too!"

"I will consider it."

"Egbert! Pay attention!" the teacher snapped.

"S-Sorry," he blushed again, taking out his notebook and joining Rose in taking notes on the functions of sine.

She really should go say hello. For John—he'd looked so pathetic and hopeless when he asked her. And she's even sitting over there at a table in the café all alone on her laptop. Rose adjusted the shoulder strap on her bag and tugged her skirt down uncomfortably.

"I can hem it to make it longer if you would like," Kanaya said, appearing beside her, "These skirts are incredibly short for my tastes, it is what I did to all of mine."

"I do not have an issue with the length of my skirt," Rose said flatly, keeping her eyes on Jade.

Kanaya followed her gaze and said, "Are you obliging John of the favor he asked you for this morning?"

"And how would you know that? You are quite the nosy one, Kanaya Maryam."

"J-John is not exactly discreet in the art of whispering and subtle communication tactics."

Rose remained where she was. "I am considering taking him up on it."

Suddenly, Kanaya swept in front of Rose to look her in the eye. She took her by the shoulders and said, extremely serious now, "Go and talk to her, Rose. No matter what happens, you have to keep her at your side at all times. You two need each other right now, alright? Stand by each other, and help her out as best you can."

Rose just looked back at her, expression blank. What brought this on so suddenly? Kanaya really was a nosy one; Rose made a mental note to ask Dave about her later. For now, she just pushed past her and walked up to Jade to make her introduction.

Jade looked up from her laptop and greeted Rose with a smile, closing her computer with a _click_. "Oh, hi! You're Rose, aren't you? I've been looking forward to this conversation, I'm so happy you finally decided to say hi!"

Rose stopped in her tracks and lifted an inquisitive eyebrow. "You were… expecting me?"

"Well, yeah!" Jade chirped, "I mean, I saw it in a dream. Didn't know it was supposed to be you I was going to talk to until a few days ago"

"These premonitions seem to happen regularly, by the way you speak of them."

Jade thought for a moment. "…yeah, I guess they do! It's been happening for forever, ever since I was little. Kinda weird, huh?"

"Very strange," Rose said with more composure than the situation warranted, "I have never heard of something like this happening outside of fiction."

"Funny, me neither! Guess I'm just a weirdo," Jade said with a goofy smile. Rose could neither agree nor disagree with that, and remained silent. Jade fidgeted on the café stool and said, "So you're new here? What class?"

"John's class," Rose said, "With Kanaya Maryam."

"Oh, she seems nice," Jade said, "She says she wants to hang out with me, too!"

"So she spoke to you as well," Rose said under her breath.

"Huh? She talked to you, too?"

Yes, she encouraged me to talk to you." No need to tell her how worried Kanaya had looked when she had given her that warning. That is the only thing she could call it, a warning. But a warning for what?

Jade packed up her laptop and stood up, smiling. "Well maybe we should hang out more, then! My brother and me are catching a movie after school tomorrow, wanna come?"

"I would like that," Rose said with a tiny smile. Jade bounced up and down and took Rose by the wrist, tugging her away to the freshmen classrooms as the bell rang.

Kanaya watched the two girls go, examining her nails in a nervous habit. "Go-o-od, Kanaya, you're so obsessed with that new girl, what gives?" Vriska drawled, lazily leaning over a café table and grinning up at the other girl.

Kanaya busied herself with adjusting her tote bag. "We are already late to class, Vriska."

"Aw, but who cares about history? It's all in the past anyway."

Kanaya stopped fiddling with her bag and fixed Vriska with a stern look. "I saw Terezi this morning. She looked like she was about to cry. Would you happen to know anything about this?"

Vriska sighed and stretched out over the table, her sweater catching her shirt and riding up over stomach. Kanaya wrinkled her nose at the tiny dark blue stud in her navel. "Ugh, don't ask me. You know she'll cry at, like, _anything_."

"I know quite well that Terezi is not the type to cry or become upset over petty things. And knowing you, you are very capable of doing some unacceptable things to achieve such a reaction from her."

Vriska looked up at the ceiling and scowled. "You're always blaming me whenever something happens! Something goes wrong, _obviously_ it's Vriska Serket's fault! Geez and I'm not even here enough to mess with anything—you meddle with more things than I do!"

Kanaya frowned and said, "I am not blaming you, Vriska, but I can see you are not in the mood to discuss this."

"God, Kanaya, what even happened?" Vriska snapped, sitting up and looking at her, "You've been acting so weird lately, we hardly ever talk anymore!"

"We hardly talk anymore because you spend all your time on the red carpet with those hideous people you claim to be your friends. Though do not feel bad, I must admit I do not mind the separation."

"U-ugh! Well you know what? I don't even care, who needs lousy stupid goddamn friends, anyway? Not me, not Vriska Serket! See ya, stupid ex-friend, enjoy all those movies I make with my new _real_ friends!" Vriska hopped off the table and walked off in a huff.

Kanaya watched her go. "Only tell me one thing more," she said as Vriska rested a hand on the door to make her exit, "…how recent is that naval piercing?"

"Like you care," Vriska spat with a flip of her hair as she stomped out the door.

Kanaya stood in the empty café. Class was already long started, there might not even be a point in showing up anymore. She bit her lip and slipped a hand into her pocket to take out her tiny green gem. It had fogged up since this morning, filling with a dark mist. Kanaya thumbed the gem for a second and the dropped it back into her pocket. She would have to go hunting tonight—this was no time for despair.

Rose locked the apartment door behind her that afternoon, retreating straight to her room she shared with Dave and dropping her messenger bag on the floor. She set Dave's stack of records on the floor and spread out her homework on her newly claimed desk to begin studying. She was just about finished taking bio notes when someone knocked at the closed door. Rose got up and opened it, half-expecting to be greeted by Mr. Strider throwing Lil Cal in her face like he had last week when he had mistaken her for Dave.

But instead of a horrifying puppet, Dave stood quietly in the doorway. Rose crossed her arms. "This is your room, too," she said, "It is a sad day when one must knock on their own bedroom door for fear of entering."

"Walking in on a girl's room is even worse," Dave deadpanned, "It's not just my room anymore."

"This is also true. I appreciate your chivalry, Dave Strider. Allow me to make it up to you with cakes, presents, and other ridiculous declarations of thanks."

"I'll pass," Dave said, absentmindedly adjusting his shades, "There's a package for you, just brought it up from reception."

"Oh?" Rose could not think of anyone who would send her anything from her hometown. Had she forgotten something when she was packing? Dave let her by into the living room where, sure enough, a small cardboard box sat waiting to be opened. Rose grabbed a kunai off the couch and sliced off the tape, not bothering with the return address. She pushed the box open to see what the mysterious gift was inside…

…and ran back into her room, slamming the door behind her.

Dave watched her from his spot by the bedroom door. Pretending he couldn't hear the faint sound of crying, he gingerly approached the box to see what the offending object was. He carefully lifted out a knitted pink scarf. A slip of paper fluttered to the floor. Dave glanced around, not sure if sneaking a peek would be a coolkid thing to do. Well, she had left it out in the open like she didn't want it, it was fair game. He folded up the scarf and set it back in the box. He picked up the paper and read:

_Dearest Rose,_

_I am sending you this as a gift for your first day of school. I hope you enjoy it, I picked it out just for you because I know you love pink, don't you? I hope you have a lovely first day of classes._

_Sincerely,_

_Mom_

Dave folded up the paper and tucked it back in with the scarf, closing the box again and setting it up on a high shelf in the storage closet. It didn't look like it was needed here at the moment.

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><p>Oh man I really like writing this story. I hadn't written from most of these characters' POVs before, and I must say I love them all! Each of them give an interesting perspective to the story. More chapters on the way!<p> 


	3. Meeting

Eight Spokes

_Chapter 2: Meeting_

"Okay, which movie do we want to see?" John asked the two girls as the three of them stood outside the theatre, looking up at the posters.

"Oh! Oh! What about _Spiderbreath_? That new one!" Jade chirped, pointing up at a poster showing a heavily photoshopped black and white picture of Vriska Serket with a tarantula climbing up her face.

"She looks familiar," Rose said, "That name, too. Vriska Serket?"

John nodded and said, "Yeah, she even goes to our school! Imagine, she's in our grade and she's already a really famous actress, isn't she the coolest?"

"John showed me her other movie, _Spider's Claw_, last week!" Jade exclaimed, still pointing up at Vriska's face, "This's the sequel! Come on, we _have_ to go see it!"

"Frankly, it looks terrible."

"Are you kidding? Vriska's the best thing since Nic Cage!" John proclaimed. Then he paused, crossed his arms and stared at the ground. "Not that _anyone_ in the world is as good as Nic Cage."

Jade gently pushed Rose and John towards the theatre. "Come on, we going in or not?"

Rose grimaced at the dark movie advertisement, but figured it would be impolite to complain. John and Jade were already nice enough to invite her, she couldn't be rude. Making friends was always a good first step when you moved to a new place, if all the books she read served her right. She'd had to leave most of her library back in her hometown when she moved; it still felt so strange to wake up in a tiny apartment with hardly any books in sight.

The group went inside and headed over to the ticket booth. "I do not think I have ever heard of Vriska Serket," Rose said.

John shrugged. "She's pretty new, _Spider's Claw_ just came out last summer! But she's really great, I think she even went Dave's middle school or something. You could ask him about her! I hear he hung out with her a few times."

"And she attends our school?"

"Yep, she's even a freshman like us! How cool is that?" John gushed, "I haven't talked to her yet, but I've seen her walking around! You think it'd be weird to ask for her autograph? Or just talk to her?"

"I do not think it would be strange at all," Rose said, "After all, she's our classmate."

John grinned. "I like you already, Rose! I'll be sure to get you a copy, too, when I ask her for an autograph tomorrow!"

"I will look forward to it."

"Come o-o-on, you guys!" Jade whined, tugging John toward the ticket booth, "We seeing a movie or just listening to you fanboy over Vriska again?"

"Yep, of course we're seeing it! Come on!" He dragged Jade over to the tickets, Rose quietly following suit. They bought their tickets and after John had gotten his usual Fruit Gushers, they found the theatre and took their seats.

The movie was not much better than Rose had expected—in fact, she would've dared to say it was worse. Vriska may have been a pretty face but her acting was atrocious, far too over the top for Rose's liking. The plot wasn't much, either, something about pirates and treasure, filled to the brim with the usual adventure movie tropes. Rose had to give Vriska credit for one thing, however: no matter how many lines she had in a scene, she always managed to make herself the center of attention. This would've been a bad thing if the movie had been any good. According to Jade, this was the new blockbuster that was breaking all kinds of records for revenue, but Rose could only smile and nod and pretend she understood.

"I hear you are here on exchange?" Rose said as the three of them exited the theatre as the credits scrolled.

Jade nodded and said, "Yeah, my grandpa sent me here for the year! I really like it here so far, and it's so nice to see John!"

"Did you travel far?"

"Yeah! I mean I live on a tiny island, so I guess I did travel a long way," Jade said with another dopey grin, "I miss it a little sometimes, especially Bec."

"Bec?"

"My dog! He's my best friend in the whole wide world."

"Really," Rose said, "I have a cat, you know. Jaspers."

"Oh, that's so cute, Rose! You'll have to let me meet him sometime!"

Rose shook her head. "He still lives back with my mom—Dave's apartment building doesn't allow pets."

"Aw, that's too bad."

"It is," Rose said, "Well, I am afraid I have to go. I will see you both in school tomorrow."

"Yep! See you, Rose!" John wrapped her up in a hug goodbye and waved as she started down the street to the bus stop.

The Strider apartment was a sad place, and not even because it was barely the size of Rose's living room when she lived with her mom. Grey dishes filled a grey sink, piles of swords lay scattered everywhere, and the apartment was stuffed with old furniture and musty clothes. The whole place was the hovel of two people who tried too hard to slip ironically under the radar, in Rose's opinion. She didn't even glance at the smuppets anymore; they were such a creepy part of the environment they almost seemed to fit the scene in a way most, well, ironic. They fit the place better than she did—she decided not to dwell too long on that idea.

Mr. Strider—Dave called him Bro, and insisted Rose do the same—tried to keep the place decent. At least he kept the microwave clear of smuppets and swords. Cleaning was mostly Dave and Rose, though, unless Bro was in one of his strange parenting moods. Rose locked the door behind her as she came in, walking to the kitchen where Dave was trying to warm up some mac and cheese.

"Hey," he greeted her as she set her bad down on the counter.

"Hello, Dave," she responded. They were silent for a while, both painfully aware of the gap between them. The fact that they were twins somehow made it even more depressing.

Dave turned back to the microwave. "So how's school been so far," he muttered.

Rose watched the mac and cheese bubble questionably through the glass. "It has been going well," she said, "I just returned from a movie with John and Jade."

"Oh, you met John?" Dave asked, a glimmer of interest sparking in his voice, "He's pretty much my bro, I love the guy. Best dork there is."

Rose shrugged and eyed the bubbling goo. Too unappetizing; Rose was in the mood for some actual food. "I am going out," she said, "I will be back after I find a decent meal."

Dave nodded and sat on the counter. "Bro's not back until four," he said, "Got a deejaying gig downtown."

"I will be back," Rose said as she went into their room to change out of her uniform. The apartment was just big enough for two people, but Bro had managed to squeeze a bunk bed into Dave's room when Rose moved in. No one was very happy with it but it was the best they could do. She threw on a pair of jeans, a black shirt and boots. She added her black jacket for good measure.

The city was so busy at night, always lit up with beautiful lights reflecting off the glass buildings. Rose tucked her knitting needle (just in case) into her waistband, pocketed her wallet and was on her way to find dinner. Chinese sounded good tonight.

She caught a train to Chinatown and searched out her usual place, a small store barely big enough to walk around in with an ordering window in the back. She paid for her food and stepped back out into the narrow street to make her way back to the train stop when something made her pause—crying. And not just little sobs, either: someone was in pain. Rose's fingers closed around her knitting needle. She carefully crept along the now deserted street towards the sound. She was about to turn the corner to face the scene when the crying voice spoke:

"I-I cannot continue on like this for much longer!"

Rose held her breath; even after only knowing her for a couple of days, she knew Kanaya's voice.

A high, calm, androgynous voice responded then, and Rose could not explain why her blood suddenly ran cold. "It is only a part of your contract," it said, "Your wish was slightly more cumbersome for you because it suppressed an apparently fundamental part of your human nature. This is only an added side effect."

"S-Side effect? It has turned my life upside down."

"I do hope your wish was worth it, then."

A hacking sob, through it sounded more like Kanaya getting sick. "I would not have wished for anything else. It is what I needed."

"Then if I were somehow able to empathize, I would hope you could manage this small wrinkle in your contract," the strange voice said again, "Otherwise, I am sure you know the consequences?"

The faint sound of Kanaya crying again. Rose couldn't stand this anymore—she turned the corner and pulled out her needle, poised for anything.

What happened next went so quickly Rose could barely keep up. An odd white rabbit creature stared at her, floating golden rings tinkering on its ears as it turned its head. Rose opened her mouth—to ask a question, to scream, she wasn't sure—but before she could make a sound she was pinned up against the cold brick wall. She tried to fight back but was so stunned she knew there wasn't much hope of escaping. The needle clattered to the ground.

Something pierced the skin of her neck—was her attacker _biting_ her? She tried throwing them off again—they were about the same size as her, actually—and shoved them off of her. The attacker stumbled away, holding their face in their hands. Rose grabbed her needle and was about to strike back when the realization dawned on her. "…Kanaya?"

Kanaya backed into a wall and slid down to the ground. She took a handkerchief out of her pocket and coughed into it, dabbing at her mouth and putting it away. Rose's stomach turned as she caught a glimpse of the dark red spots on the white cloth. Kanaya looked up at Rose, then before she could say anything, she stood up and rushed over to her again. Rose willed herself not to flinch but held her needle even tighter.

But Kanaya dug through a small purse and began fussing over her instead, the whole time whispering over and over: "Sorry, sorry, my apologies, sorry…"

Rose let her work with no complaint, if only out of shock. She watched as Kanaya bandaged the wound of her neck, took care of the bruises forming on her arms and legs, readjusted her pink headband. For the first time Rose got a good look at her outfit.

Kanaya was sporting a long ruffled green skirt and a laced black top that would've looked like a corset had it not been tastefully covered with a long purple cloak. A pair of heeled black boots finished her getup. The whole outfit was surprising and very out of place, and yet strangely suited her. A dark green gem glinted dully from a purple choker on her neck.

Kanaya caught her staring and shot her hand up to cover the gem. "Sorry…," she muttered again.

Rose touched the bandage on her neck. So Kanaya _had_ bitten her. She leaned back against the wall to steady herself and said, "What would you like me to ask you about first? Your obviously out of place costume? Your inexplicable attack and my bandaged hickey? Or would you rather explain that rabbit sitting over there and watching our every move?" Rose pointed to the creature, fixing Kanaya with a look that demanded answers.

Kanaya followed where Rose was pointing, and all the blood seemed to drain from her face as she breathed, "You can see him…?" Suddenly, she shot up and grabbed Rose's shoulder and shook her. "Look at me. _Look at me._ You must get away from here. Move away, if you are able. Just run away from here, this city is not safe!"

Rose grabbed Kanaya's bands and lifted them off her shoulders, fixing her with another look. "I will not be going anywhere without a very viable reason, Kanaya Maryam. Though I would love to hear an explanation for all of this."

Kanaya opened her mouth to speak but was interrupted by the creature. It hopped down from the windowsill it had been watching from—it looked like a rabbit but moved like a cat, Rose observed—and crept up to sit in front of Rose. "Oh," it spoke in that unsettling childish voice, "I was starting to wonder when you'd show up." Its lips did not move as it talked, its red eyes latching onto Rose's like it could see all the way down to her core.

Rose narrowed her eyes at it and said evenly, "Care to offer me some answers? My dinner is getting cold."

The creature flicked its bushy tail back and forth, back and forth. "First, my name is Kyubey. I grant wishes."

"I could discern that from your earlier conversation. If it can be called that."

"What is it you want, Rose Lalonde? What do you desire most in the world?"

"Wishes. These come at a price, I assume."

"On the contrary," Kyubey said, "You will become a puella magi as you make your wish. You will gain immense power, fight witches, and gain anything you please from your wish."

"Too good to be true."

"Indeed it would be, if I were not offering it to you right now."

Rose thought for a moment, turning over Kyubey's words in her head. "You mentioned witches," she said, "Are these the adversaries of the puella magi?"

"Yes, they are," Kyubey said, "Witches are born of despair and sadness. They draw others into their mazes, creating more darkness and despair. The job of the puella magi is to rid the world of them."

"And if I wish?" Rose asked; it was always better to test the waters before diving, "Will I start to attack bystanders at random in the middle of the night?" Kanaya cringed at the comment, and Rose suddenly regretted it.

Kyubey flicked his head; his floating rings chimed in the quiet. Kanaya took Rose's arm again, but more gently this time. The look in her eyes was no less serious, though. "Like I warned you before, Rose," she said, "You must get away from this city. Once he sets his sight on you there is almost nothing you can do aside from absconding."

"You will become a puella magi," Kyubey continued as if Kanaya had never spoken, "And fight witches. You will gain incredible power to be able to defeat them, all for making a wish."

Rose crossed her arms and said, "There is a catch, obviously. But you are not about to spoil it for me. Though Kanaya apparently knows something of it."

"The price of the wish is your transformation into a puella magi."

"It hardly seems like a fair trade."

"Do not listen to anything he says," Kanaya hissed, "He is a crafty salesman of the worst kind."

"Do you realize how much sadness and fear there is in the world, Rose Lalonde?" Kyubey asked, once again brushing aside Kanaya's warnings, "Too much for you humans to handle on your own."

"How sad. I was hoping you will give me a get-out-of-jail-free card for this one, as I obviously have no way of bringing about world peace on my own."

"Oh but you can," Kyubey said as he stared at Rose, "You most certainly can, Rose. All it takes is a wish. You have potential, possibly the most of anyone I have come across. You could do great things with this power I have to offer."

Rose looked over at Kanaya. "Your clients do not seem to fare very well, I must say," she said.

"Returning to the original topic," Kyubey said, "Witches are everywhere, always forming and seeking out sadness and darkness. They feed off it. as a puella magi, you will fight these witches and collect Grief Seeds from them."

"I completely know what a Grief Seed is. Allow me to pull one out of my pocket and offer it to you as a token of my understanding of this concept."

Kyubey flicked his head again, but his expression did not waver. "I do not appreciate sarcasm. Grief Seeds are the remains of witches, and they grant puella magi even more power. You will be extremely powerful as a puella magi, Rose. One of the best."

Rose tapped her finger against her arm and said, "You are quite insistent on this matter considering this is the first time we have ever met."

Kyubey only stared back at Rose. A beat. Rose began to feel a little pang of victory at finally having cornered this slippery little creature when he said, "This is only the first time you have met me, Rose, not I you. Not at all. I will look forward to your wish and contract."

Rose only stared after him in shock and something she did not want to call fear as he slunk away into the shadows.

Kanaya coughed into her handkerchief and dabbed at her lips. "We really must leave," she said. She seemed a little calmer now that Kyubey had gone.

Rose tucked her knitting needle away and picked up her plastic bag of smashed vegetable stir-fry. She offered her hand to Kanaya and said, "Would you like a hand in getting home?"

"To the train would be fine," Kanaya said, "One moment." She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Suddenly she glowed white, there was a rustle of wind and a quick flash of light, and she was standing there in front of Rose in ordinary street clothes. Rose decided she had some fashion sense, or at least tried to, if the black shirt and long red skirt were any indication. "Let us be on our way," she said, dropping the small green gem from her choker into her pocket.

"…yes," Rose said, for the first time in a long time stuck scrambling for words, "I am on the train line going into town."

Kanaya looked a little disappointed when she replied, "I am in the opposite direction."

"I can walk with you to the stop," Rose offered, her small smile playing at her lips again. Kanaya smiled in return and the two set off to the train together through the night.

* * *

><p>A quick note: not all the characters are puella magi at the beginning of the story (the prologue takes place much later into the story, obviously Rose is not a puella magi yet), but some of them are! In keeping with the Madoka Magica canon, I kept to only having puella magi and not puer magi. However, the guys are still very important to the story, I'd never leave them out! I hope everyone liked this installment!<p> 


	4. A Much Needed Explanation

Eight Spokes

_Chapter 3: A Much-Needed Explanation_

"Morning, Rose!" a girl with a blue cat-eared hat and a matching tail squealed, bouncing around Rose's desk.

Rose sat up from her power nap and stared groggily up at the girl. "Oh, good morning…?"

"Nepeta Leijon!" the girl said with a big grin, "I wasn't here this week so I didn't get to meet you yet!"

Rose nodded a hello and said, "A please, Nepeta."

"Oh, you're so polite, Rose! That's a really purritty name, too, did you know?" Nepeta exclaimed, rolling her _r_'s to make a purring sound that caught Rose a bit off guard.

"Thank you," she said, hoping her bewilderment did not show.

Nepeta gasped. "Hey, your eyes are so purritty, too! Kanaya, did you see her eyes yet? They're lavender, really beautiful lavender! Oh Rose, I already know you're going to be the best classmate!"

Kanaya turned around and smiled at the two of them. "Yes I did see," she said, "They are a very unique, pretty color, actually."

Rose nodded to hide the smile she could not help was forming on her lips. Nepeta skipped off to her desk behind Terezi as class began. "She is quite the character," Rose said quietly to Kanaya as the teacher began the lesson.

"Yes, indeed she is," Kanaya said absentmindedly as she wrote something on a scrap of paper. She passed it back to Rose:

_I Do Not Typically Make Use Of This Crude Means Of Communication But To Utilize This Time Without Disturbing The Lesson I Decided To Partake In This Subtle Not Exchange. I Must Meet With You After School Today. On The Track Field Would Be Ideal. Will You Meet With Me For An Extremely Urgent Conversation?_

Rose read over her neat calligraphy, every word consistently capitalized as if every word was the most important one to be penned. She wrote out a response and handed it back to Kanaya saying that yes, she would be there. Kanaya read over the note, exchanged a glance with Terezi, and pocketed the scrap.

The day passed quickly. Rose itched to ask Kanaya about Kyubey and the previous night, but the serious looks and cold shoulder she got instead of answers stayed her eagerness to know more. She had checked her injuries that morning and her bruises were not as bad as she thought they would be, but her wound on her neck was still sore.

After the last bell, Rose packed up her things and headed down to the track. She passed Jade on the way to the elevators. She sat alone again, typing on her laptop on a bench in the hallway. Rose looked at her and almost slunk by on her way, but stopped. Jade wasn't _that_ bad…

Jade looked up and waved at her. "Hi, Rose!" she chirped, "Guess what? I dreamed normally last night! Maybe you're helping me stop being such a weirdo or something."

Alright, the girl was still pretty strange.

Rose walked over and sat down next to her, setting her bad down gingerly next to her. "No new preemptive dreams, then?" she asked.

Jade shook her head and said, "Nope! It's been pretty nice, really, I've been getting more sleep. Sometimes the dreams can be pretty scary."

"Oh?" Rose asked, not sure if she wanted her to elaborate. If she really could see the future—and she believed her when she said she could—then who knows what she could see that she would call unsettling?

Jade looked down at her hands and fidgeted around. "Um…," she said, "I don't think I can tell you that! But we're going to get really powerful, Rose. The both of us! Not sure how quite yet, but it's definitely going to happen."

"Interesting," Rose said, thinking. Judging by how she described the dreams, she did not know about Kyubey and the puella magi. Or did she know, and was just keeping it from her? "Jade," she said.

"Hm?"

"Are you possibly afraid of cats? Rabbits?"

Jade just looked at Rose for a moment, then burst out laughing. "Oh my, you're so funny, Rose! I've got Bec at home with my grandpa, but I'm not scared of cats and rabbits, they're so cute!"

"If I were you, I would begin to cultivate a fear of them. They are terrifying creatures, Jade. Simply awful, they could kill you with a single stare."

Jade frowned and said, "Aw, you miss Jaspers, don't you?"

"I do not miss my long since separated cat, nor is he the source of this warning." Rose now regretted ever mentioning her pet to Jade and John the previous day.

Jade slipped her laptop into its case. "Well I'll watch out for them, then! Scary cats!"

Rose nodded and stood. "Good," she said. Maybe there was nothing to worry about. It still never hurt to be careful. She picked up her bag and was on her way.

Stepping onto the athletic complex, Rose made her way to the track where three shapes she assumed to include Kanaya stood. She passed Vriska at the tennis courts with a group of giggling younger students. She seemed to be signing autographs for them; Rose tapped on the fence as the girls scurried away. "I'll alert the paparazzi immedietly," she said.

Vriska turned and laughed. "Oh? You want one, too?" she asked, winking and twirling her hair with a long finger.

"That would require a request for one."

Vriska frowned and said, "What? Haven't you ever read a magazine? Vriska Serket ring any bells?"

"Your apparent fame does not seem to reach my old city."

"Oh right, new girl," Vriska sighed, rolling her eyes, "You must really not get out much, huh? Must've never seen my new movie _Spiderbreath_!"

"In fact, I did see it. Though I must say it was not up to my usual tastes."

"What? It was even the sequel to _Spider's Claw_! My other movie!"

"As I said, not quite up to par."

"Ugh! Well you know what? You probably just sit at home all day watching Squiddles. Fuck off!" she propped her racquet over her shoulder and stalked off, nose in the air.

Rose admitted to feeling quite pleased with herself.

She reached Kanaya and before she could say anything, Terezi grinned and said, "About time you showed up! What, get distracted by Spiderbitch over there?"

"Moving on," Kanaya interrupted sharply, "I am happy to see you decided to accept my invitation, Rose."

"How could I refuse such a verbose document?"

Kanaya's lips twitched into a smile, but it disappeared as quickly as it had formed. "I would like to introduce you to Terezi Pyrope, our class hall monitor and a friend of mine. You met Nepeta this morning."

Nepeta grinned and tipped a cutesy two-fingered salute to Rose, saying, "Always grrreat to see you!"

Rose nodded at Terezi and smiled at Nepeta. Then she looked at Kanaya again. "I assume these two knoe of the scene I encountered last night?"

"More than that," Nepeta said, "We're the same!"

Rose raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Would you happen to attack random passerby in the night as well?"

"Oh shit," Terezi muttered, shooting forward and pushing Rose's shirt collar away from her neck to expose the bite mark. She turned to Kanaya and said, "You didn't tell me about that! Oh man, Kanaya, has it really gotten this bad and you didn't say anything? Rose could've been in some serious trouble!"

"You can always ask us for blood if you need it," Nepeta piped up, trying to be helpful.

"Puella magi blood is not anywhere near as effective as human blood," Kanaya said sharply, "This is not important, and is not the reason I called you all to convene here today."

"Tch," Terezi muttered, replacing Rose's shirt collar and turning back to Kanaya, "Why drag her into this, anyway? The less she knows, the safer she'll be."

"Kyubey has approached her," Kanaya said, "Terezi, you of all people should know as well as I how significant that is and what grave danger she faces."

"Oh no, I definitely know what something like that means. But damn, she just got here…"

"Precisely, he wishes to convince her as soon as possible."

"I think it'd be a grrreat idea, really! More people to help us out, and she'll be so good at it!"

"I would like to put an end to all this cryptic dialogue and hear a straight answer from you all," Rose interrupted, "Seeing as I am apparently the subject of this conversation, I would very much like to be included."

"Of course," Kanaya said with a gently smile, "You see, Rose, Kyubey's approaching you yesterday evening made it very clear what his intentions are for you, and we as a whole believe that it would be best if—"

"—Basically, stay away from him," Terezi said, "You're a lot better off that way, trust me."

"But it's not that bad at all!" Nepeta said. She turned to Rose, eyes glinting with excitement. "You get such amazing powers as a puella magi, Rose! Like Terezi! She's blind, and she used to be syneth… syneth…"

"Synesthetic," Terezi finished for her, "I smelled what I saw, but usually not what the colors actually _were._ Just what seemed to fit them best!"

"Yeah! And now because she's a puella magi, she really sees by smelling now! Isn't that amazing?"

"It's taste and smell," Terezi added, "But yeah, you get the idea. Made a wish, turned into a puella magi, got some kinda way of seeing."

"And what was this wish, Terezi Pyrope?"

A glint crossed Terezi's eyes as she said, "Let's just say it was a good one. Justice was served."

Rose nodded. "The wish is a secret for each puella magi, then."

Nepeta shook her head, cat ears bouncing with each quick movement. "Nope, I can tell you mine, Rose! I wished to be a really, really powerful puella magi! To be the purrfect purrotector of people against the witches!"

Rose fixed Kanaya with a look, but Kanaya only gave a quick shake of her head. "My wish is for only myself to know," she said.

"Even if all this talk of powers sounds fascinating," Terezi continued, "Being a puella magi's a dangerous job, Rose. Witches don't just disappear with a flick of a wand. You're fighting for your life out there, fighting the defend justice every day."

"This talk of danger has me intrigued," Rose said, crossing her arms. Her fingers danced over her bruises as she thought for a moment. Then, she looked Terezi in the eye and said, "Take me with you."

Terezi blinked behind her bright red glasses. "What?"

"Take. Me. with you."

Kanaya stepped between them. "No, most definitely not. It's far too dangerous to take ordinary people into the mazes, we already have enough to worry about when we face them on our own."

Rose took a step closer to Kanaya, holding her gaze with hardened eyes of determination. "I must see this," she demanded, "Kyubey promised some fairly lofty things when I encountered him last night. I need to see this for myself before I make any decisions."

Kanaya shook her head. "You must trust our judgment, Rose. You will not be safe with us."

"I do not have much trust to go on, seeing as I have only known you for three days and this is quite the weighty decision."

Kanaya held her gaze for a moment, willing herself not to look away, but Terezi came up beside her and said, "I've got to agree with Rose on this one, Kanaya. We're a group of three, I can watch her."

Kanaya stood silent for a moment, then sighed. "Alright, _once_. Just one witch. Tomorrow night, we will convene and search out a witch I have been tracking for several days."

"We can't guarentee your safety, Rose," Terezi said, "You've gotta stay on your toes when you're with us. I'll keep you safe to the best of my ability but you've gotta help, too."

"I understand."

Nepeta grinned again and squeezed Rose in a quick hug. "Yay, you can come with us! Don't worry, Rose, it'll be so much fun! Kanaya and Terezi are the best puella magi out there, you couldn't be safer!"

Rose smiled at Nepeta, nodded at Terezi, gave Kanaya another wary look. "I will look forward to tomorrow evening, then," she said as she began to walk back towards the school.

"Equius! I'm here!"

Equius Zahhak looked up from the car engine he was working on. "Oh, hello Nepeta," he greeted his friend as she bounded into the auto shop and took her customary spot in the corner to begin her homework. She was more like a little sister, really; her family was like the tight-knit one he never had with his four older brothers and his parents. "Was it a successful day at school?"

"You bet it was!" Nepeta said with a smile, "I finally met the new girl, Rose. She's so nice and has the purritiest eyes!"

"Oh? A transfer student in the middle of the semester?"

"She just moved here," Nepeta explained, "She's living with her brother, Dave Strider!"

"Oh yes, I hear you mention him from time to time."

"He and Terezi are so funny!" she giggled as she spread out her books, "They always pass notes and draw each other comics. Terezi won't let me see them though."

"I do hope it is not something lewd…"

"Aha ha, Terezi wouldn't do that!" Nepeta laughed out loud. She stood up and took Equius's green overcoat off its hook on the wall and snuggled into it; it was far too big for her, so it acted more as a blanket. Suddenly, she sat up. "Oh! You know what else?"

Equius looked over at her, inquisitively adjusting his cracked sunglasses. "Do tell."

"I'm going witch hunting tomorrow!" Nepeta announced, "Kanaya said we could take Rose and show her!"

Equius frowned. "Nepeta, this does not sound safe."

"But I have to, Equius, you know what I told you all about with the gem and the dress and the witches?"

"You will not go. I forbid you."

Nepeta furrowed her brow and curled up in the coat. "But I really need to, it's starting to get cloudy again!"

Equius thought for a moment, leaned back against the car and looked at the concrete floor. "…are you certain this is necessary?"

"Absolutely! Kanaya and Terezi are really powerful puella magi, they'll purrotect me just fine like always!"

Equius frowned at the floor, but said, "If this is so important that you go, then I will allow it. _Only_ if the others are with you, however. And you will go straight home afterwards. Understood?"

"Purrectly!" Nepeta smiled as she opened up her textbook, "Can I have some help?"

"Of course," Equius said, walking over and sitting down beside her. He took the book and scanned the page. "Ancient Greece?"

"Uh huh!"

"I was quite the intellectual on this subject in school," Equius said, chest swelling with pride.

Nepeta looked up at him and poked his chest. "Hey, Equius," she said, "My mom and dad said to tell you you're invited over fur dinner today!"

"R-Really? How kind of them."

"Yeah! Eating alone in that tiny apartment seems awfurry sad."

"I would be delighted to join you for dinner," Equius said, "Now, to work. A strong future begins with a strong education."

* * *

><p>Aww, I love writing Equius and Nepeta's friendship, it's the sweetest thing. This being a humanstuck AU, I tried my best to find a parallel to Terezi's blindness and my friend had the idea of it changing somehow once she became a puella magi. I think I did alright-please note that she is not synesthetic anymore due to all of Kyubey's magical stuff, so she "sees" through smelling the actual shapes and colors, so I guess it's roughly the same as it is in the Homestuck canon now.<p> 


	5. The Witch

Eight Spokes

_Chapter 4: The Witch_

Rose packed up her violin and shut the case with a _click_. The bell rang, and it was time.

She gathered her things into her locker and pocketed her keys and train money—who even knew where they were going for the next few hours. "Hey, forgetting something?" Dave said as she spun the lock closed.

"Not at all," she said without looking at him, "I am only leaving my things here for a time, if that is such a criminal offense."

"Yeah, dude, that's a straight up felony right there," he deadpanned, "Out with Jade or something?"

"So nosy all of a sudden," Rose said, walking past him and down the hallway to where Kanaya was waiting. This puella magi business was best kept a secret. She reached Kanaya and raised an eyebrow, propping a hand on her hip impatiently. "Well. Will it just be you and I today?"

"If only it could be," Kanaya muttered under her breath, then shot a look back at Rose. "Having a smaller group for the navigation of witch mazes is much simpler than rounding up several puella magi to collaborate for the battle against a witch."

Not necessarily lining up with her argument the previous afternoon but Rose would let it slide. Kanaya started towards the elevators and Rose followed suit.

Terezi and Nepeta were waiting for them at the main entrance when the elevator doors slid open. "Rose! Hi!" Nepeta ran towards them, waving and nearly tripping over the massive green coat thrown about her shoulders. Rose rushed to catch her as she stepped on the hem and came stumbling forward. Nepeta just looked up at her and giggled. "Sorry," she said, "Just lost control of my feet!"

"That coat seems awfully big, doesn't it?" Rose asked, helping her back up onto her feet.

Nepeta just laughed and spun around, and Rose flinched in reaction in case she had to catch her again. "Equius gave it to me yesterday! I always use it, so he finally let me keep it. It's so comfurrtable."

"It looks it," Rose said with a small smile, "Equius?"

"My best furrend! He doesn't go here, though. He didn't go to high school, but he's really good at fixing cars and has a shop!"

Terezi walked up, cane swinging back and forth with purpose. "Yes, yes, we're all friends here now. We've gotta go find that witch before the trail fades." Kanaya nodded silently and the group set out. Kanaya took out a tiny dark green gem and stared into it. Terezi looked over her shoulder. "Anything?"

Kanaya stayed silent, but continued walking. Suddenly she looked up and turned right down the street. "She is this way."

Rose followed without a word. She watched as Terezi and then Nepeta took out their own gems, teal and olive green respectively. She narrowed her eyes as the three girls looked expectantly into them as if staring into a crystal ball. "Is there something of interest in those crystals?" she asked.

"These are our soul gems," Kanaya said, "The crystallization of our powers as puella magi. These provide us with powers to defeat the witches and act as our guides to find them."

"They're like little homing de-mice-s!" Nepeta said, brandishing hers out at arms length.

Rose squinted at it. "Doesn't seem like a very high quality gem to be so foggy."

Nepeta glanced back at Rose and tucked her gem into her chest, suddenly self-conscious. "I…"

"More on that later," Kanaya cut in quickly, "The clarity of a soul gem is not the business of anyone but the puella magi herself."

The girls walked along the busy city street a while longer, following Terezi as she stared intently at her gem. She turned down a smaller street, twisting this way and that, glancing up to look around occasionally, getting them all so thoroughly mixed up in the urban jungle Rose did not know where she was. Finally, Terezi jumped up on an empty construction scaffolding and helped Nepeta up. "She's here," she said, "I'm sure of it."

Kanaya nodded and gracefully swung herself up onto the ledge. She knelt down and offered a hand to Rose. Rose looked at it warily, and grabbed a hold of the scaffolding to climb up herself. Terezi, while a tiny bit off kilter the way she smelled everything—including Dave, much to Rose's curiosity—seemed trustworthy enough, especially since she looked to be fairly close with Dave. Kanaya, on the other hand, remained a mystery Rose was not keen on solving anytime soon. Likewise, she would not allow herself to be solved by her.

The group climbed up the precarious scaffolding until they stepped out onto the roof of an apartment building. They had come a long way from the modern glass and steel buildings of the downtown, Rose noticed; the houses and larger buildings here were quaint and simple.

Terezi held her gem out in front of her, concentrating on something. She tossed it into the air, where it flashed a bright teal light. Terezi was enveloped in a bright light, rose into the air, spun around, and lightly stepped back to earth in a red-and-teal costume of a red vest, teal fitted shirt and leggings, and red slitted shorts. Her soul gem glinted from her chest. "We're here."

Kanaya followed her lead and transformed into her puella magi form. Nepeta tossed the huge coat off and transformed, throwing the coat back on over an extremely frilly, poofy dress adorned with bows and ruffles. Her gem was set into her blue cap perfectly over her forehead.

Terezi raised an eyebrow. "You sure you wanna wear that?" she asked, "You'll trip."

"Don't be silly, I'll be just fine," Nepeta said, "Equius let me borrow it and I'll use it, it's very purrecious to me!"

Terezi sighed and flipped her cane—was it a cane anymore?—around. "Alright, fine. But if anything happens with it you're not wearing it again, okay?"

"Sure thing!"

"Let us be on our way," Kanaya said, "Stay close to me, Rose, you will need protection when we enter the maze. This realm is not meant for nonmagical humans, you must remain on alert."

Rose nodded and stepped forward. "Just show me where to go."

Terezi held out her cane as it transformed into a huge bow, still with the dragon's head at the top. She aimed and fired an arrow directly in front of her, but instead of continuing off the edge of the building it was absorbed into thin air. Rose blinked. This was impossible—rather, she wanted it to be impossible. With the things she had seen the past few days, anything could happen.

The air where the arrow had disappeared split. A gaping hole yawned before them, shimmering and warping in place. Terezi motioned for everyone to follow her and walked through, Nepeta bounding after her. Kanaya offered her hand again, her eyes hardened to match her serious tone as she said, "Take my hand. We cannot afford to have you lost in the first minutes of our search and battle."

Rose looked at her hand, elegant and strong. She could not figure her out, but she would have to trust the little she did understand about Kanaya Maryam. She took her hand and Kanaya led them through the hole as it sealed up behind them.

It was dark. The first thing that reached Rose's senses was the faint trickling sound of water dripping from a faucet. There were faucets everywhere, actually, now that her eyes adjusted and she looked around. Small rivulets of water were streaming along the ground, tiny shimmering veins that seemed to provide the only source of light in this dark… wherever they were.

"Is everyone here?" Terezi's voice cut through the darkness.

"Yep, I am!" Nepeta replied.

"We are both accounted for," Kanaya reported in, giving Rose's hand a slight squeeze.

Terezi turned and led them forward. Rose looked around—they had mentioned this being called a "maze" as she recalled. And sure enough, they were in a long passageway, the floor damp and slippery with water from the faucets. Kanaya glanced around from time to time, as if something was about to leap out at them. "Afraid of the dark?" she teased.

"Appropriately so," Kanaya said, "If you knew what we are about to face, Rose, you would be worried as well. Frightened, even. I am almost wishing I had not mentioned this to you, it is far too unsafe."

"That will be for me to judge," Rose said, though she allowed Kanaya to grip her hand more tightly as they ventured further into the maze.

The dripping water grew louder and louder as they went. "We're getting close," Terezi called back to the group, "Get ready!"

"Way ahead of you!" Nepeta chirped, waving around a pair of steel claws back and forth and dashing up behind Terezi.

Kanaya's chainsaw materialized in her hand as she called out to Nepeta, "Be careful where you are waving your weapons, those claws are very sharp!"

"It's fine, don't worry!" Nepeta grinned over her shoulder at them.

Terezi gripped her bow more tightly and stopped suddenly in front of a wall. "This is it," she said, "Everyone ready? Rose?"

"Show me this witch," Rose said, "I've heard enough about it."

Terezi cast a meaningful look at Kanaya, who braced herself in front of Rose, and placed an arrow in her bow. She aimed and shot it straight at the wall, but instead of the arrow splitting against the hard surface, it melted right into it as if there were nothing there. A gust of wind and flash of light, and a jagged hole gaped before them, leading into another dark cavern beyond. Terezi jumped through and disappeared into the dark, followed by Nepeta. Kanaya led Rose through. The sound of rushing water met their ears as the hole sealed up behind them.

Rose looked around again. It was still dark, still filled with water. But there was more water now, it sounded like an ocean in here. A dim spot of light shone at the far corner of the space, dimly illuminating the area. It looked like… well, an ocean. A maze of rickety docks crisscrossed over the water, the waves crashing up over them and occasionally washing planks away.

Then Rose saw it: a large, dark, grotesque figure looming out of the water ahead. Its scales were shiny and glazed with a layer of slime, and it seemed to ooze across the water and over the docks toward the group.

Terezi did not waste a second. She loaded an arrow into her bow and shot an expertly aimed shot at the witch's head. It struck right in the center—was that the center? It was hard to tell—and the witch bucked back with a screech. She ran across the docks, taking aim again as Nepeta readied herself to pounce on it. Kanaya brandished her chainsaw in front of her and Rose, calling over her shoulder: "Are you alright, Rose?"

"I am fine," Rose said evenly, trying her best to disguise her terror at the monster sweeping across the water towards the other girls. Nepeta was so small compared it that thing, and all she had was a pair of claws at her disposal! "Will they be alright?"

"It appears this witch is not too challenging," Kanaya said, "But it will require some work to bring down."

Rose watched in horror as Nepeta slashed and clawed away at the witch, dodging its swings and bites almost rhythmically. Terezi loaded her bow again, but this time a cloud of arrows formed behind her, all whizzing through the air toward the witch with the release of her bowstring. The witch cried out and lunged at Terezi, but she leaped out of the way just in time. "Kanaya, go for a bit, I'll watch her!" she shouted.

Kanaya nodded and cast a look at Rose before readying her chainsaw and running at the witch. Rose's breath caught in her throat as she watched her leap up and swing her saw down with such force she split the witch in two, slicing all the way down until she was crouching on the dock again.

The maze buckled. It was an odd sensation, one that made Rose's head spin—it was like space itself was warping, the constant shapes she had always taken for granted suddenly morphing out of shape like an earthquake. She shut her eyes and covered her ears, hoping it would keep this strange feeling away, but just as soon as it had come, it disappeared.

Rose opened her eyes and looked around. They were on the rooftop again, standing in a circle as if nothing had happened. Nepeta grinned and pumped a fist in the air, squealing, "Yeah! We got it, another one!"

"Indeed we did," Kanaya nodded in approval.

Terezi stepped forward. "Okay, great job everyone! But there's still one thing we've gotta do." She knelt down and plucked a dark spindle off the ground and held it at arm's length. "Who needs it this time?" she said.

"I do," Nepeta said, calming down and looking at the spindle, "My gem's getting a little foggy."

"Yeah, you'll need to take care of that," Terezi said, "And you, Kanaya?"

"If there is any left, I will be requiring it," Kanaya replied.

"Pardon the ordinary human," Rose said, "but please explain the little black needle."

Terezi turned to Rose and held out the spindle to her. "Oh, right! This is a Grief Seed. It falls from defeated witches, I guess you could call them their remains? Anyway, they clear up your soul gem, since they tend to get foggier and darker the more magic you use. It takes away the bad stuff so you can get your magic back."

"Purretty convenient!" Nepeta said, taking the Grief Seed and holding it up to her olive green gem in her hat. It cleared up almost instantly and glinted in the light from the buildings. "I think there's still some left fur you, Kanaya!" she said, handing it over to Kanaya, who took it gratefully and cleared up her own dark green gem.

"Looks like we're all out," Terezi said, "Mine's still pretty clear, anyway."

"Geez, Terezi, you hardly ever have to do anything fur your gem, it just stays clear!"

"Nah, I guess Kyubey didn't want me taking out too many witches at once," Terezi joked with a toothy grin, "So much justice, so little time!"

Kanaya transformed back into her street clothes and said, "Well then, it is about time I be headed home."

"Yeah, me too! Equius wanted me back as soon as we defeated the witch!" Nepeta said as she and Terezi transformed back from their puella magi forms.

"I'll lead you guys back to the school," Terezi said, swinging around onto the scaffolding and climbing down to the ground.

"Are you sure you do not need help climbing down?" Rose called after her.

Terezi looked up curiously. "Why would I need help?" she asked.

"Well… it is difficult to climb without knowing where you are going…"

Terezi laughed and said, "Don't sweat it, Rose, I can smell my way down!" With that, she scaled the apparatus like a gymnast and dropped down to the ground without a single scratch. Rose decided not to pry further into her "seeing" methods.

They walked back to the school and said their goodbyes. Rose went back into the school to retrieve her things. The elevator reached her locker floor with a _ding_ and the door slid open, revealing Jade Harley as she waited for an elevator. "Hi, Rose!" she greeted as Rose stepped out into the hallway.

"Hello, Jade," she responded, "You're here… late?"

Jade shrugged and said, "Just had a meeting with a teacher. Transferring grades from school to school is so annoying."

"I know how that feels," Rose said with a small smile.

Jade looked back at Rose and said, "You're here later than usual, too! Try out for a sports team?"

Rose shook her head. "No, no, nothing quite so ambitious. I was at the… knitting club."

"Oh? I didn't even know we had a knitting club! That's so cool!" Jade exclaimed, the girls walking down the rows of lockers until they reached Rose's starkly undecorated one among rows of doors covered in colorful wrapping paper.

"Yes, it was my first meeting and it was quite interesting," Rose said as she got her bag. She avoided Jade's eyes; she could lie to peoples' faces, but that didn't mean she liked it.

Jade flashed a smile and waved goodbye to Rose. "Well, I'll see you tomorrow!" she said, turning on her heel and rushing back to catch the elevator down to the street, all before Rose could react to the tiny light green gem now glinting from a ring on her finger.

She did her best not to scream. She did not succeed.

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><p>The witch in this chapter was not a specific character in Homestuck, but rather just an introductory one. Not sure how I came up with the faucet thing... And oh man Jade's got a soul gem! Most of the other puella magi don't have their gems set in jewelry, but I guess she requested it so it would be easier to keep track of.<p> 


	6. Hello

At long last, an update! It's not very long, but I suppose it's something. Flexing my writing muscles again and trying to work the rest of the story out now that summer's almost here, so there'll be more regular updates in the coming months. For now enjoy this flashback chapter, woooo!

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><p><em>Chapter 5: Hello<em>

"Terezi! Terezi! Oh my god get this! This is _news!_"

Terezi groggily sat up in her bed and pressed the phone to her ear, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. It was still too early to deal with her. "Yeah, Vriska?"

"I got into Alternia High School!" Vriska squealed over the receiver, making Terezi's head hurt, "Isn't that totally awesome? We're going to school together next year, I can't wait!"

Terezi almost dropped the phone. She flopped back into her pillow and stared up at the ceiling. "That's great, Vriska," she said after a while, "Congrats."

"Thanks! I mean I knew I was going to get in anyway, but this is so great hearing for real, you know? Man, I can't wait to hang out with you in high school, you'll get into all the cool parties and maybe even get to go to my movie premiere—"

Terezi let the phone slide out of her hand and onto the sheets as her friend babbled on and on. It really was a small world, and definitely not a fair one. This had been made abundantly clear throughout Terezi's life, but now was one of the times when it came back to slap her in the face. Vriska could've had any school she wanted anywhere in the world, knowing her newfound fame, but she just had to chose the one closest to home. And the hardest one to get into, naturally.

"…and then I'll have to introduce you to some people, I mean you know Gamzee and he's not around much but there're other people you can hang with, too!" Vriska's drawling voice floated back to Terezi. It always sounded like she was sneering at her.

She picked up the phone again and said, "Sorry, Vriska, I gotta go get ready. See ya at school!" _Unless you decide to skip again_, she willed herself not to add. She threw the blankets off of her and got out of bed to change into the uniform lying neatly on the chair. She set her red glasses on her nose and grinned. After washing up in the bathroom, she strutted down the narrow hallway to the bedroom next to hers and banged on the door. "Karkat! Get up!" she yelled.

No answer.

She knocked again. "Karkat, I said get up!"

"Fuck off," a muffled voice grunted.

"We're going to be _late_!" Terezi shouted, giving a sharp rap on the door. A shuffling sound came from inside, followed by a dull thud against the door. "Karkat, putting a chair there won't keep me out, and you're already awake so stop being a wuss!" She smacked the door again with no results.

"Terezi! Karkat! Your breakfast is ready!" a voice came from the base of the stairs.

"We'll be down in a sec, Dad, Karkat's taking ages!" She jimmied the lock on his door and pushed her way into the room, the chair making an awful screeching sound as the door shoved it out of the way. It was hardly a bedroom, just a broom closet her dad had emptied out for Karkat to live in. Terezi had vaguely considered letting him sleep on her floor but her own room was her own room. And Karkat really hated her scalemates, though she really couldn't understand why.

"Oh fuck no!" Karkat threw himself under his blanket, but Terezi launched herself after him and tugged at whatever she could grab. "Dumbass, that's not even my foot!" Terezi squeezed whatever was in her hands—soft, smelled musty yellow. His gross blanket, then. "No but this is," she cackled, swiping at the red-smelling thing sticking out from under the gross yellow. Karkat yelped as she dragged him out. "Now get dressed, my dad has food ready," she snapped, swishing her cane out to the hall and shutting the door behind her.

She went downstairs and took a seat at the small table in the kitchen where a fat bagel sat covered in strawberry jam. Terezi greedily attacked her breakfast as her dad sipped his coffee over by the counter and read the paper in silence. When Terezi was almost finished with the second half of her bagel her dad spoke: "Your mom's birthday is this Thursday."

Terezi paused, strawberry jam adorning her lips and chin. Then she nodded. "Karkat and I can deal on our own."

Her dad took another sip of coffee—it smelled rancid, Terezi hated the goopy grainy smell of instant coffee. Or any coffee. "I was thinking maybe you'd want to come along this year? I know you used to come when you were a little girl but it's been a few years."

"Hospitals smell weird," Terezi said to her bagel, "They don't smell like anything, just white and cleaning."

"Karkat could manage here on his own for a day, if that's what you're worried about."

"Karkat doesn't know how to put one foot in front of the other without me."

She waited for her dad to continue, but instead the silence closed in again. "I'll leave some dinner in the fridge for you to heat up," he said.

They were interrupted by Karkat running down the stairs and into the kitchen. Terezi resisted turning up her nose at the smell of his grey t-shirt—she could've sworn he wore that yesterday. "Sorry to make you wait, Mr. Pyrope," he grumbled under his breath.

"Ah... it's, it's okay Karkat don't worry about it," he said, gesturing to the table with his cup, "I think your bus is almost at the corner, though, you'd better run if you wanna make it."

"Damn it," Karkat grouched, grabbing his bagel and running out the door. Terezi stood up and slung her backpack over her shoulder and was just about to follow Karkat when she heard something fall on the floor. "Oh something dropped."

"Ah, yeah, that's Karkat's," her dad said, reaching for the fallen envelope.

"Is that his answer from AHS? Remember I got mine yesterday?"

Her dad paused, then shook his head. "Karkat was waitlisted, I don't think he wants to talk about it."

"Oh. Oops." Terezi shuffled out the door and to the curb where she could hear Karkat pacing and waiting for his bus. "See you after school," she said on her way to the corner where her carpool was waiting.

Karkat grunted. "Yeah, I guess."

Terezi slipped into the backseat of Nepeta Leijon's car and collapsed her cane to set it in her lap. "Morning, Nepeta," she grinned.

"Hi, Terezi!" Nepeta grinned back, "Good mews from AHS?"

"I got in if that's what you're playing at."

"Ah, I'm super purroud of you!"

"That's wonderful, Terezi!" Mrs. Leijon turned around and said from the driver's seat, "Nepeta is starting there next year, too."

"Awesome," Terezi smiled through pointy teeth. The rest of the ride went by in a blur as her mind became more and more preoccupied with that shredded envelope on the kitchen floor, teasingly wrapped up in fancy paper only to doom a kid to a further life of downward spiraling.

.

Terezi snapped her cane left and right down the hallway, shoes clacking on the tiles. Students usually moved aside when she walked to avoid bruising their ankles, but one person could never get enough of it. "Geez, aren't you ever gonna get _tired_ of whipping people in the shins like that, Redglare?" Vriska crept up behind her and whisked a long finger through Terezi's hair.

"This cane bruises more than shins and you know that."

"Oh and do I," Vriska laughed, squeezing her waist before sauntering away into a web of giggles from passerby. Terezi held her cane tighter as the bell rang, prompting people to get on with it and go to class on time.


	7. Under the Radar

Hello, everyone! Another chapter, this one's a lot longer than usual. A lot of stuff happening right now in this story!

Also, the lovely reallyquantum drew some designs for the puellae magi! You can see Terezi, Jade, and Nepeta so far. Thank you so much to my wonderful moirail!

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><p>Rose fumbled with her keys to the apartment, dropping them on the dingy hallway carpeting before getting a hold of them and unlocking the door. "Damn it, no, no, no…," she muttered under her breath as the door slammed shut behind her and she hastily worked her jacket off her shoulders.<p>

"Dude, you're back late," Dave called from the kitchen. Rose started and dropped her coat and bag, bringing on a continued stream of muttering. After gathering everything back up and stowing it in their room, she wandered into the kitchen to look for some dinner.

Dave was at the stove stirring a pot of pasta—a pile of smuppets sat on the floor next to him to show the mess he'd had to beat back to even use the kitchen at all. He looked over at Rose as she stumbled over to a cabinet and started shoving through the sparse selection of boxed rice and macaroni. He went back to watching his pasta and stirring. A few seconds passed and Rose still had her nose in the cupboard. "The cabinet's not spawning any new boxes," he said at last.

Still no response.

Dave stopped stirring and gently pushed the cabinet closed. Rose backed away from the counter, staring off into space. "What, not even taking a stab at that?"

She shook her head and said, "What? Oh. Yeah. Someone's acting more concerned than usual."

"Someone's acting more offbeat than usual," Dave replied. Rose waited for him to ask what was wrong—not that she would ever tell him—but no question came. Dave went back to stirring his dinner and Rose took a loaf of bread and a jar of apple butter she had been hoarding (there wasn't really much point; the Striders had always preferred peanut butter) back to her room.

She sat on her bottom bunk and spread her homework before her, but studying only led to her lying on her bed staring up at the bottom of Dave's messy bunk.

That ring on Jade's finger… the gem embedded in it had looked just like the ones Kanaya, Terezi, and Nepeta had. Rose wasn't sure why the difference in accessory, but the gem was still the gem.

It didn't make any sense. Rose had only known Jade for a week, but she had not once said anything that could have shown interest in puella magi. She hadn't known anything when Rose had warned her about Kyubey. Jade didn't seem like a liar. Rose was a liar, could be a liar if she chose to—Jade was not one. Then how had Rose not noticed before? There should have been signs, some kind of warning to let her know this was happening.

She didn't know why she was so worried, though. Going to the witch's maze with the other puellae magi had been eye opening to the dangers of the choice, but this feeling was different. Nepeta seemed like she would have trouble with the whole thing at first, but watching her fight the witch had changed Rose's opinion completely. Jade could handle herself well enough on the battlefield, but there was something else that didn't sit right with Rose.

It was Kyubey himself, the way he had acted upon their first encounter. Or rather, her first encounter with him. He had been so insistent about forming a contract right then and there, leaving no cracks to fall through short of blatantly refusing as Rose had done. Though given the choice of any wish in the world for magical powers, how would Jade refuse that?

Rose flipped open her phone and dialed Kanaya. "Good evening?" she picked up on the first ring.

"Hello Kanaya. Have you heard the news regarding Jade Harley?"

"The other transfer student other than yourself? No, I don't believe I have."

"I ran into her when I returned to the school after you defeated the witch. She had a soul gem embedded in a ring, though she did not mention it to me."

A moment of silence over the phone. Then a sigh. "I'll have to discuss this with Terezi and then we will get in contact with Jade. There have been quite the uptick in contracts recently, it will begin to be difficult to assist all of them if this continues."

"Are you and Terezi the only ones around here?"

"I suppose there are others, though we have never met them. We are the only ones in our school, however. We are quite certain of that."

"So you are like Nepeta's mentor."

"And now Jade Harley's as well."

"I see," Rose said, "I imagine I have given you more than enough to think about before school tomorrow. Good night, Kanaya."

"Good night, Rose," Kanaya replied, "Thank you for notifying me."

The line went dead and Rose was alone with her thoughts again. She forced herself to turn back to her homework and slog through it, then tried her hardest to fall asleep. Even with Dave being much quieter than usual—Rose would account it to her odd behavior though she still had no idea how the Striders functioned—it took her a long time to find sleep.

Rose did not know what to expect the following morning, but she had expected to be included in the discussion of what to do with the newest puella magi. Apparently Terezi and Kanaya would have none of it, Terezi giving her a curt shake of her head as she approached them at the back of the room before the bell rang. Rose scowled and took her seat.

"What's up, Rose?" Nepeta asked, taking a seat on Kanaya's desk in front of her.

"Why are you not over there with them?" Rose asked, "This seems like a fairly important development to be discussed with other puellae magi."

"Oh it's no biggie, Kanaya told me about it," Nepeta said, "She and Terezi need to make plans and stuff, like how to talk to her without her getting afuraid."

"Oh? What makes you think she will not join you?"

Nepeta looked down at her fuzzy socks and kicked her feet back and forth. "Sometimes a puella magi doesn't want to be found out, not even by her own kind. Not efurryone's as nice as us."

"How will you communicate with her?"

"My guess is they'll try to talk to her through thoughts," she said, "That's what we usually do."

"You mean you are all telepaths now?" Rose suddenly felt excruciatingly uncomfortable.

Nepeta giggled and said, "Don't worry, it's only with each other! And other puellae magi if they let us, sometimes puellae magi don't let others in at all."

"This entire business is sounding trickier by the minute."

"I guess it is! But that's just Terezi and Kanaya, they keep the tough stuff to themselves. They were always kind of like that."

"I can imagine," Rose said as the bell to begin class rang. John ran into the room before the teacher and fell into his seat next to Rose, completely out of breath. "Late morning, perhaps?"

"I swear it wasn't me," John huffed, "Jade wouldn't wake up on time, she was out super late last night."

Rose's ears perked up. "Does this happen often?"

"Nope, she doesn't really go out on her own that much, this was weird." The lesson began and the conversation could not continue, but Rose's worries were starting to become a reality. Jade really was a puella magi, most likely fighting witches late into the night. Facing that alone could not be a winning strategy for most anyone.

When the bell rang for break Rose slipped out of the classroom. The three puellae magi had not made a move to do the same, so she assumed the confrontation would take place after classes let out for the day. She still had time to get some questions answered before things became risky.

She found her in the usual place, at a table in the café with her laptop. A few people Rose assumed were her classmates sat there with her, chatting with her and laughing at something she had just said. She looked pretty normal, though that did nothing to assuage Rose's worries. Jade looked over and saw Rose there. She said something to her classmates, who promptly went on their way, and turned to her laptop. This was Rose's cue. She closed the distance between herself and the table and took a seat across from Jade.

Jade spoke without even glancing up to see who it was. "I had a dream last night you'd talk to me. There were others there, too, though… I don't see them anywhere?"

"They'll come later," Rose said, "For now it's only me."

"…that's good."

"Did the dream say why I was going to talk to you?" Rose pressed gently, trying her hardest to make this conversation as painless as possible.

Jade shrugged and continued typing away on her laptop. "Nope, but I have a feeling. But I dunno why you'd care about that stuff."

Rose glanced at her fingers as they flew across the keyboard, noting, "I see you are still wearing that ring."

Jade flinched and cupped her hand around the ring. "What… about it?" she asked.

"Nothing, I was only noting its fine craftsmanship," Rose responded casually.

Jade didn't move. "You know, don't you."

"Do I know what?"

"About the soul gems! You were warning me about rabbits and stuff a few days ago, that was because of Kyubey, wasn't it?"

"You confirm that you know Kyubey."

"I met him yesterday," Jade said, her voice dropping to a whisper as some students walked by and waved to her, "And I… got this soul gem. Kyubey was nice enough to put it in a ring for me, too, since I wanted a way to carry it without it getting lost! He said he'd done it before so it wasn't a big deal."

Rose tapped her long fingers on the table, thinking. "Would you be terribly offended if I inquired into what you wished for?"

Jade looked so scandalized and embarrassed that Rose made a mental note of not being so forward with that question to puellae magi in the future. "Kanaya and Terezi wish to form an alliance with you," Rose hastily changed the subject, "Nepeta as well, though Kanaya and Terezi seem to be running things."

Jade furrowed her brow, typing more furiously. "What'd they want with me?"

Rose sighed and leaned forward, speaking more insistently now. "I understand that this is a serious endeavor, and you have things to keep to yourself and to sort out on your own. I must insist, however, that you err on the side of common sense and join an alliance with these girls."

"Honestly Rose, you're one of my best friends here, but I don't know," Jade said with a sigh, finally shutting her laptop, "I don't get what they'd want, and it'd just be losing out on more than I should be when it comes to grief seeds. I won't get my share if I have to split it!"

"They have things under control," Rose said, "I have seen the three of them at work. Terezi and Kanaya are quite experienced puellae magi, and they have much to offer you in term of assistance. There is strength in numbers—more power to fight more powerful witches, which would ultimately give you each the same spoils as you would be receiving if you fought on your own."

Jade thought about this for a moment. Rose almost regretted coming here, but it was much better this way. Jade would be even less likely to join the group if she were simply approached out of the blue as Kanaya seemed to be planning. "I'll talk to them, I guess," Jade finally said, "I mean if you say they're okay, they must be okay!"

Rose nodded, allowing herself to breathe again, "Yes, I assure you they mean well. They will teach you how to become a powerful puella magi."

"Sounds good to me, I'll see what happens," Jade said. The bell rang and the two girls returned to their classrooms.

Rose took her seat and pointedly ignored Kanaya's judgmental stare. "You will thank me for speaking with her," Rose said before Kanaya could say anything, "She would not have listened to you if she had not gotten confirmation that you could be trusted."

"Do not be so rash," Kanaya muttered before the teacher started in on the day's geography lecture.

The conversation had been strained, as expected, though in the end Terezi had managed to convince Jade to join them. Nepeta and Terezi ran off to their carpool, and Kanaya strolled through the campus gates and down the sidewalk. She headed towards the train station on her way home. Jade Harley was a gifted puella magi, Kanaya had to admit that much. She had only been turned two days previously but she had already managed to take down a witch on her own. That alone showed promise, even if she did not yet posses a definite grasp on her powers.

Kanaya took a short detour, coughing as she turned a corner. The pain was acting up again, her mother would start to worry if she didn't keep these incidents under wraps more carefully. Kyubey had said that this pain was a side effect of her wish, although physical manifestations of a wish were rare.

She came to the store she was looking for and went inside: a butcher's shop. She was quite familiar with the place at this point after four months of regular visits. "Afternoon, Miss Maryam," the girl behind the counter greeted her with a smile.

Kanaya smiled back weakly and said, "Just my regular order, thank you."

The girl nodded and searched the displays below the counter, coming up with two cuts of particularly bloodied sirloin and packaged and weighed them. "Here you go, Miss!" she said, placing the package in a paper bag and handing it to Kanaya.

"Thank you very much," Kanaya said, paying for the meat and exiting the shop. She tucked the package under her arm and searched through her purse, fishing out her small pocket knife discreetly disguised as a tube of lipstick. She dug out the meat and cut off a small piece, popping it in her mouth and sucking on it like a cough drop. Her throat stopped itching almost immediately and the heartburn-like pain in her chest lessened, much to her relief.

The pain had been a problem from the very beginning of Kanaya's life as a puella magi. After careful experimentation with remedies, it seemed that the blood and other juices of raw meat were the best solution after traditional methods had failed. She'd never mentioned it to a doctor, and it had gone unnoticed at her school physical before classes started, solidifying her notion that it was linked to her existence as a puella magi. No other puella magi had this kind of affliction as far as she knew, and no one knew of it but her. Well, aside from that night Rose had found her in an episode when the pain had gotten particularly bad.

She continued on towards the train station, but had not gone two blocks when she sensed something strange and stopped short. A witch's maze. It was so close to the school, too! She'd never sensed a witch this close to campus before, it was odd. She pocketed her knife and steak and headed in the direction of the witch.

It was not difficult to find. In fact, the maze entrance was visible and wide open in the middle of an intersection. Was someone already inside? They were not doing a very good job of keeping the maze closed to bystanders, whoever they were. In a busy place like this, anyone could wander into it by accident!

Kanaya ducked into a deserted alley, transformed into her puella magi form, and dashed out into the street. Being in this form still allowed people to see her, and she picked up on a few comments about her formal-looking outfit, but reaching the maze was top priority. She ran out into the street, dodging cars and leaping into the maze, closing the portal behind her. Now ordinary people could not get in, but until she defeated the witch in this maze, she could not get out. A necessary gamble that she was certain she could deal with.

The witch was not hard to find—someone really had been here before her. The sounds of the witch led her towards the center of the maze; it sounded big. How many puellae magi were here to fight this thing? She rushed through the winding corridors towards the sound, her reflection flashing through the broken mirrors lining the walls.

It was not proper etiquette to intrude when a puella magi was fighting a witch. However, this one obviously had quite a few problems with her technique that could end up being disastrous. Kanaya turned a corner and found herself in a huge wrecked ballet studio, huge rotting vegetables strewn about everywhere. There was not much time to analyze the scenery, though, before the witch crashed to the floor and screeched—a huge, grotesque china doll. Bullets rained down on it from something high up in the air, presumably where the witch had fallen from.

Kanaya ducked into a corner to avoid the gunfire and materialized her chainsaw. A few moments later and she dove into the fray, attacking the witch in a moment of being distracted by the other puella magi. Was there really only one here, this witch was fairly strong to be fighting alone! Maybe her judgment of such things had been skewed from fighting together with Terezi for so long?

Something was dropping toward the floor—or rather, someone. Kanaya struck at the witch again, dodging a hit and jumping back to regain her footing.

"You can't stay out of anything, can you, Fussyfangs?" the puella magi screamed, aiming a huge bazooka at the witch and firing point blank, knocking it backward with a horrible howl.

Kanaya gaped at Vriska Serket, not sure if she believed it. Then again, this did explain quite a bit about the past year. Kanaya found her grip on her chainsaw again and ran at the fallen witch, striking it a few more times before it stirred and got back up.

The bazooka disappeared from Vriska's hands, eight blue fluorite octet dice taking its place. "Shit," she spat, tossing the dice in the air, expertly catching them in the gaps between her fingers. The dice flashed and transformed into a tiny dagger. Vriska swore and groaned, "Bad roll."

The witch charged at her, and she readied herself to start poking at it with her new weapon. Kanaya dashed after it, swinging her chainsaw with all her might and slicing the witch clean in half. The witch gave one last horrible screech and disappeared, taking the maze with her.

"Look out!" Kanaya exclaimed, grabbing Vriska's arm and yanking her out of the way of an oncoming car.

"Get off me!" Vriska shot back as she grabbed the grief seed off the pavement, trying to wriggle out of Kanaya's iron grip as she led them both back to the safety of the sidewalk. They barely had the chance to catch their breath before a new barrage began to surround them and pull out their camera phones.

"Is that Vriska Serket?"

"Oh my god let me grab my notebook for her to sign!"

"Mind looking over here for a pic with my friend?"

"Gosh her outfit is so cute!"

Now it was Vriska's turn to grab Kanaya's arm and drag her away through the crowd, giving the occasional smile but not speaking to anyone. When they were clear of the crowd they broke into a run, the crowd quickly following suit. "Not a prime location to be hunting for witches," Kanaya remarked.

"Shut it, I didn't have a choice!" Vriska hissed, "You think I have _time_ to do this witch-y thing anymore? I've got a tight schedule!"

"Not having time for the life you chose because of your wish seems ironic."

"Who're you to make fun of my wish, Fussyfangs?"

"I do not poke fun, only observe."

"Oh bluh," Vriska muttered under her breath, turning a corner and leading them around a complicated maze of streets until the noises of the crowd faded away and they were out of breath.

As they stopped to catch their breath again, Kanaya got her first good look at Vriska's outfit. It was exactly what she would've imagined it would look like, though she definitely did not agree with her tastes. Her amazingly thick dark navy-dyed hair was pulled back in a ponytail, which at least was something Kanaya approved of. Her top was black with an intricately designed pattern embroidered in it in dark blue. It stopped short of her midsection, showing off her navy soul gem in her navel. Her skirt was a similar design to her top, and still shockingly short for Kanaya's standards. Bright red boots finished off the outfit. "What, checking me out?" Vriska drawled with a wink.

Kanaya blinked. "An interesting choice of attire," she said hastily.

"Well you should know, you don't really get a say in it," Vriska said, rolling her eyes and changing back into her school uniform, "But I like it! Yours looks so solemn and vampire-y!"

"I suppose," Kanaya said, changing back as well.

Vriska tapped her foot and cleared up her soul gem with the grief seed—it had been disturbingly murky, though it turned crystal clear much to Kanaya's silent relief. "So there you go, my little secret to how I got all this. Happy?"

Kanaya shrugged and said, "If you enjoy your wish, that is better than something that causes distress."

"Hey who're you to make fun of my wish? I don't even know yours!"

"And you never will," Kanaya retorted simply.

"Ugh, fine!" Vriska scowled at her. She dug through her purse and extracted a cigarette from its case, lighting it and taking a long drag.

"You still have not quit," Kanaya said.

"What's it to you?"

"Nothing to me, but certainly something to your lung tissue."

"Oh my god okay, if you're gonna be like that then I'm off," Vriska huffed, exasperated. She walked off down the street, hesitating a few yards away but then taking off again to disappear around the corner onto the avenue.

Kanaya dug into her package again and retrieved another piece of sirloin, stuffing it in her mouth and pleading with the heightened pain in her chest and throat to go away. She felt like she was on fire.

Nepeta looked through the old cabinets of Equius's tiny kitchen. "What do animals like you eat, Kyubey?" she asked, peeking around the door at the small white creature sitting on the counter.

"Anything you have would be perfect," he said, swishing his tail.

Nepeta thought for a moment, then pulled a bag of marshmallows out and opened them. "This okay?" she asked, ripping it open and taking out a few to offer to him.

"Yes, thank you," Kyubey said, walking up and plucking one out of her hand. "Are you sure it's alright I stay invisible like this here?"

Nepeta giggled and said, "Yeah! Equius knows about you, but it's so much funnier this way!"

"If you insist," Kyubey said, attacking the marshmallow.

Nepeta closed the cabinet and plopped down on the old sofa. She stretched and yawned, though it sounded more like a meow. "This is so grreat that you wanted to hang out with me today, Kyubey!"

"It is my pleasure," he said, taking the marshmallow in his teeth and hopping over to sit on Nepeta's lap.

Nepeta carefully stroked his soft white fur, watching him finish his snack. "Hey Kyubey, I have a question?"

Kyubey finished scarfing down his food and looked up at Nepeta. "What would that be?" his voice drifted through the air.

Nepeta fell back into the cushions and stretched again, propping her feet up on the back of the sofa. "Where do witches come furrom? I mean I know they're made from despurr and stuff, but like there should be someone who's making them, right? Like how you're making puellae magi. Shouldn't we be going after the guy making them instead of just fighting the witches?"

Kyubey stood silently for a moment, staring at Nepeta with his pupilless red eyes and tail swishing to and fro. Then he slunk up to Nepeta's ear and said, "There is no such person, Nepeta." And proceeded to answer her question.

"Going out again, Karkat?" Terezi asked as her friend passed by her on the staircase after dinner.

Karkat looked up at her and shrugged on his jacket. "Yeah, Gamzee called and needs to talk again—bad high, I think. Dumbass."

"That seems to be happening more frequently…"

"Hey, fuck off! He's my pal and don't say shit about him!"

Terezi set her lips in a thin line and replied, "Fine. Have a good time."

Karkat heaved a ragged sigh and went on his way. Terezi watched her friend go. Karkat had been living with her and her dad on and off for several years now whenever his home situation got too volatile or he just felt like coming over. He could be rude, but Terezi knew him better than most people; he was genuinely worried about Gamzee. This was something serious.

Terezi went up to her room and buried herself in her comforter with her laptop. She'd be so busy with school that she'd fallen behind on her roleplay logs with Nepeta, she should probably check up on those. One of the good, if strange, things about her newfound "sight" from becoming a puella magi was that she could actually use a computer without Braille. She just painted all her keys different colors to make it easier. As if on cue, her phone rang—Nepeta. Terezi flipped open her phone. "Hey, wassup?"

"C-could you come over…? I… something's not right…"

Terezi sat up slowly. "Nepeta? What's wrong?"

"It's all dark… like, really dark. It's getting worse really fast… please help…"


	8. Iphigenia

_Chapter 7: Iphigenia_

"Check it out, I made muffins!" Jade chirped, setting the plate down on the picnic table.

"And this time with no peanut butter," John grimaced.

Jade ducked her head in embarrassment. "Yeah, I'm sorry… I won't buy that again, I forgot you were allergic."

"Yeah man John avoids that shit like the plague," Dave said, "Kind of unfortunate but what're you gonna do."

"Thanks for coming, you guys!" John quickly changed the subject, "It's kind of windier than I thought it'd be, so maybe later we can head back to my house to watch movies?"

"Sure but only if I can pick it," Dave said, "I love you bro, but I've sat through way too many crappy movies with you lately."

"You have no idea what you're talking about, my collection is awesome."

Dave finished his apple juice with no comment.

Rose sat quietly to the side and took a muffin. She had invited Kanaya to this gathering today, but she was busy—she had sounded quite distressed about something over the phone. Rose bit into her snack; if Kanaya wanted to continue to be isolating, she could do as she pleased. No matter if it was incredibly obnoxious.

"How's your grandpa, Jade?" Dave asked, taking a muffin for himself.

Jade smiled and said, "He's great! He and Bec are getting along really well back on the island." John's hand twitched ever so slightly as he reached for a soda, but Rose decided not to mention it.

"Cool," Dave nodded and took a big bite out of his food.

Rose tapped her fingers on the table. "So how are classes going for everyone? I know John is well, after all he sits next to me. How are you, Jade?" _How are the witches treating you?_

Jade shot her a look but it was gone as soon as it had appeared. "School's great for me! Everyone is super nice, and Dave's been really helpful when I don't understand something!"

Dave shrugged and said, "I mean you're my best buddy's cousin. What else am I going to do? Classes are good for me, too, by the way."

"You seem to be working hard," Rose said passively. Dave said nothing.

It wasn't that the twins hated or even disliked each other. It was more that this isolation even in close proximity provided them with a quiet sort of comfort.

"Is that the Squiddles theme song?" Dave asked.

Jade's hands flew to her bag and she fished out her ringing phone. "Y-yeah, sorry," she muttered, flipping open her phone and stepping away from the table to take the call.

"I haven't heard that since I was four," Dave said.

"You don't seem the type to watch the Squiddles, even as a young child."

"Of course I wasn't, I never said I liked it. Then Bro got it in his head that I liked smuppets and the rest is history."

"I… gotta go," Jade said, hurrying back to the table and grabbing her bag, "You guys finish the muffins, John can bring the plate home, right?"

"You're off rather quickly," Rose observed.

Jade shoved her phone into her purse and shouldered her bag. "Y-yeah, I need to finish a school project. Later!" She took off across the park before the other three could say anything.

"But she doesn't have a project…?" John said slowly.

Dave shrugged and got out his phone to answer a text. "Fuck, really?"

John blinked. "What?"

"Nothing, Terezi's just being a flake."

Rose's finger tapping quickened. First Kanaya, then Jade, now Terezi. Something was up, and Rose would be damned if she didn't find out what. "I think I will take my leave as well," Rose said, standing up and picking up her purse, "I will see you back at the apartment tonight, Dave."

"See you."

"Oh! Uh, okay! See you later, Rose!"

Rose started in the direction Jade had taken. She took out her phone and dialed Kanaya. It went to answering machine. "How odd…" She dialed Terezi with the same result. Jade finally picked up when Rose tried her. "Hello, what is going on?"

"Uh…" Jade's voice floated through the receiver before a fuzzy noise overtook it for a moment, replaced with Kanaya.

"This is business for puellae magi only, Rose. My apologies but we cannot have you here right now."

"Then you can tell me what is going on from my remote location," Rose replied.

"I cannot do that, either. This is very urgent, Rose, we do not have time for this."

"Tell me quickly and I will stay out of your way."

More fuzzy noises. This time Terezi took over. She sounded frantic. "Look Rose, we're really busy right now and I—we—can't deal with this nagging, we'll talk to you later!" The line went dead. Rose cursed under her breath and dropped her phone into her purse, turning sharply to head back to the apartment earlier than she had anticipated.

.

Terezi flung the phone back at Jade who barely caught it. "Turn it off, we can't have that interrupting us right now!" she hissed over her shoulder as the trio ran down the sidewalk.

"I-I forgot, I'm sorry!" Jade responded.

"There's no room for forgetting!"

"Terezi, calm down," Kanaya stepped in, "We need to keep our wits about us."

Terezi shook her head and said, "Easy for you to say, this isn't like the other situations we've had until now!"

"How's that?" Jade asked timidly from behind them.

Terezi focused on the ground and continued running. Kanaya shook her head. _It is not of my knowledge as to why this is upsetting Terezi so much, but we must be patient_, she thought to Jade, who nodded and the group continued in silence.

After grabbing a bus a few stops, the girls came out on a street of a busy neighborhood. "Tch, this is getting worse and worse," Terezi muttered, taking out her soul gem and transforming into her puella magi form right on the street corner.

"Terezi!" Kanaya grabbed her shoulder and pulled her aside, out of the way of the shocked passerby, "You know very well that you cannot be so brash with things like that."

"We don't have time to be courteous! Something's wrong with Nepeta, we need to get to her as fast as we can!"

"But we absolutely cannot endanger ourselves as well while doing it," Kanaya said.

Terezi hesitated to say something, but instead simply turned heel and started across the street. "Do you know where she is?" Jade called after her.

"Yeah, she said she was at Equius's place," Terezi replied, trying very hard not to panic.

They reached a less crowded area where Kanaya and Nepeta transformed as well. "We are very close, I can feel a witch's barrier somewhere around here," Kanaya observed.

"Great," Terezi said, "This way, Equius's apartment isn't far." The three of them continued down the street after Terezi.

"I don't think I know Equius?" Jade said, "Does he go to Alternia?"

"Nope. I mean he used to until he dropped out last year. Now he works in an auto shop—his apartment is right over it. He's Nepeta's really good friend."

"Really good friend?"

"Close family friend, grew up together, the works. Get your head out of the gutter and focus."

They soon came to a garage with a small parking lot situated next to it. Terezi rushed right past the storefront towards a staircase in the back. "Hi, Terezi!" a burly man called from the car lift.

"Hey, is Equius in?"

"Yeah, pretty sure he's still upstairs."

The girls hurried up to the next floor and Terezi knocked on the door—the door merely swung open, unlocked. An unsettling feeling engulfed the apartment as they stepped inside, familiar and simultaneously alien. The source was clear: a foggy witch's barrier in the wall of the living room.

"Oh god," Jade breathed, "You think… Nepeta's in there by herself…?"

"I don't know, cell phones don't usually work inside the mazes. Still, she's here somewhere." The three of them entered the maze, preparing themselves for anything. It didn't feel extremely powerful, but a witch was a witch.

"Hello? Nepeta?" Jade called softly through the maze. No answer. "Nepeta?!" Still nothing.

"Come on, she's probably further in," Terezi said. She materialized her bow and started into the maze. It was bright, washed in the pastel and candy colors of a child's bedroom. Broken toys of all sizes were strewn about and stuck to the walls, mixed between smashed pieces of china. In some corners of the maze, full tables set up with tea sets sat surrounded by stuffed animals—predominately cats. The air smelled of tea spices.

"I don't like this…," Jade whispered.

"You think any of us do?!" Terezi snapped.

"No, but… this maze feels funny," Jade said.

Terezi waved her bow over her head. "Mazes are funny, creepy things! Geez, Jade, quit complaining and being distracted!" Jade bit her lip and fell silent.

"Hello? Nepeta?" Kanaya tried again. Silence again—then suddenly, the sound of china breaking echoed down the corridor.

"Hello? Yes, is someone there?" a male voice responded.

Terezi froze. "Equius?!" she shouted.

"Terezi Pyrope?! Imagine running into you here!" a young man about a year older than them walked out of the shadowy path ahead. He wore a pair of cracked sunglasses and a black beater with old jeans, and long inky black hair fell past his dark shoulders. He was sweating up a storm and shaking even harder. "Thank God you all are here," he said as the puellae magi ran to meet him, "I don't even know where to explain—"

"How about if you know where Nepeta is," Terezi prompted, trying her absolute hardest not to shout.

"But are you alright, Equius?" Kanaya asked, "You look as if you have seen a ghost!"

"I may have done just that," Equius said quietly.

"What're you talking about?" Terezi's eyebrows knit together with new worry.

_Did he already come into contact with the witch?_

_Nah, the witch would've finished him off. Or at least roughed him up a little—he's fine._

_We need to get him out of here, you guys!_

_We know, Jade! But we need to find Nepeta and get everyone out!_

Equius steadied himself against a wall and said, "I'm not quite certain what happened, but I was downstairs in the shop—Nepeta was upstairs doing homework as she usually does. Then I felt something like an earthquake tremor run through the building and everything was suddenly very quiet. I went upstairs to check to see if Nepeta was alright but I found myself here instead. I always told her this puella magi business was too dangerous, I only hope she's safe…"

"The entrance to a witch's maze," Kanaya said with a knowing nod, "Perhaps Nepeta went in herself to take care of the witch before it grew stronger?"

"I don't like the sound of that, particularly because it doesn't sound like Nepeta at all," Terezi said, "She sounded so scared on the phone, she couldn't have gone into this maze willingly…"

"What'd she say when she called you, exactly?" Jade asked.

"She said it was getting dark," Terezi said, "And she wanted me to come help her. She sounded like she was in really deep trouble."

A gnashing, roaring sound rumbled through the corridor. The china on the tables clinked and trembled where it sat. Jade cringed. "It sounds big," she said quietly.

"Nah, it won't be too bad judging by the size of this maze," Terezi said, "It's new, but it's not super dangerous."

"Especially considering there are three of us," Kanaya added, "Equius is a liability now, yes, but we can handle this perfectly well. If you will pardon my expression, Equius."

"No offense taken."

"Just as soon as we find Nepeta," Terezi grumbled under her breath, "Let's go."

The group of four hurried deeper into the maze, following the wild howls echoing through the childlike rooms. Terezi's steps fell heavier now that they were so close—something still did not sit right with her about this witch. The maze was eerie and familiar in an uncomfortable way. She had a dark feeling about an explanation but she didn't dare think it through all the way.

They found the center of the maze soon after. Compared to the candy brightness of the rest of the maze, the center was a dark, crude cavern like a beast's lair. Torn up stuffed animals were still strewn about, but this time instead of unobtrusive white stuffing, shiny fluids and suspicious clots spilled out of them. It made Terezi sick to her stomach.

Another terrible scream filled the chamber, and this time the girls got their first look at the witch. A horrible beast, its fur matted and caked in dried blood, stirred from its place on the ground and rose up to its full, huge stature. It howled again, sweeping a giant arm out and smashing into a wall, sending chunks of stone tumbling across the ground.

Terezi didn't waste a second. She whipped out her bow and ran at the witch, firing arrow after arrow. Some of them hit, some of them didn't. "Focus, Terezi!" Kanaya called after her, readying her own chainsaw.

Terezi didn't reply. The familiar weight of her bow in her hand, the smooth feeling of the arrows darting by her cheek, the bitter smell of the black darkness were the only sensations she let in. Nothing else registered except that inkling of a thought that this witch was not like the others she had fought. It grew with every arrow that left her bow and faded with each cry from the witch, until one sound managed to get through to her.

"NEPETA!"

Terezi stopped in her tracks and turned to see Jade running across the cave toward a small lump in the floor Terezi had not noticed—even now it was too far away to smell what it looked like. She ran after Jade, trying her hardest to make out what the small figure was. Her fears were confirmed too soon.

Terezi scooped up Nepeta's tiny lifeless body in her arms and hugged it tight to her chest. Jade screamed and ducked down next to her, taking Nepeta and shaking her by the shoulders. "Nepeta! Oh god Nepeta please wake up, please don't—"

Terezi knelt there, slumped against the corpse of her best friend. It didn't feel like a body lying there, being shaken by a desperate Jade. Nepeta was a small girl, but this cold body felt so _tiny._ Wonder at how someone this fragile had managed to stand up to witches at all vaguely prodded at the edges of her mind. Tiny and fragile, like a doll. Like a _child's toy…_

The floodgates that had been holding back those fears finally broke. Things fell into place that would have been better pushed back into the dark recesses of the cavern. Terezi gently pushed the corpse off onto Jade, who caught it and resigned herself to simply holding it and cradling it like an infant. She stood up and turned to the witch, who was recovering quickly in the lull of combat. She took a deep breath, and a forest of arrows began to materialize around her, as if the air that filled her lungs was the cloud of weapons filling the cave. She raised her bow, one last arrow notched in it, aimed, and fired.

The thousands of arrows rained down on the witch, sticking it full like a pincushion as it screeched and howled. Terezi didn't stop—she ran at it, grabbing arrows out of the air and stabbing it herself, over and over again until the witch bucked one last time and sent her flying into a wall. She watched through half lidded eyes as Kanaya swooped in to deliver the final blow.

The maze buckled and disappeared, taking the defeated witch with it. The group collapsed onto the floor of Equius's apartment above the auto repair shop.

Jade started crying all over again. Kanaya pocketed the grief seed for later and carefully extracted Nepeta's body from her arms and laid it gently on the couch. She was dressed in an old pair of jeans and her favorite Leo zodiac tshirt, with that huge green coat almost drowning her tiny form. Terezi would've questioned why she was dressed in everyday wear and not her puella magi form, but the time had passed for asking questions; now on to answering them.

Equius quietly went over to the couch and sat next to the body. He gently brushed the mousy brown hair out of her face and tucked it behind her ear, readjusted her blue cap. He watched her unmoving face for a moment. His shoulders began to tremble ever so slightly and he silently bowed his head over her, his grief hidden from the rest of the group.

"Should we leave him?" Kanaya asked Terezi quietly.

Terezi mustered up the ability to speak and replied, "She's been the closest thing he ever had to a little sister his entire life." Kanaya nodded and guided a sobbing Jade to the door.

Terezi lingered for a moment. She took a half step forward, then took it back. "I'll go with you to talk to her parents," she said. Equius nodded, not looking up from the dead face of his life's brightest sun. Terezi turned and followed the others out the door.

As soon as they had turned the corner away from the auto shop, Terezi let out an ear-splitting scream that made even Kanaya jump out of her skin. She screamed until her throat went horse and it burned to make a sound. People turned and stared but she didn't stop or care. When she ran out of breath at last she slumped toward the ground. Kanaya caught her and said, "This seems to be a matter we cannot handle on our own."

"Who else are we supposed to ask for help?!" Terezi fired back, jolting up and onto her feet again, "There's nobody else in this entire city who gets what's going on!"

"If you would allow me a moment, I do know someone who could assist us," Kanaya said, taking out her phone and dialing a number. It rang almost to answering machine. "Yes, hello Vriska, what would be your current address? We… have some important things to discuss with you."

.

Of all the things Rose was expecting to hear when Kanaya called her that night, meeting in the swankiest district of Houston was not among them. She, of course, obliged her request and took the train to the appointed meeting place—Dave gave her a passing glance as she left the apartment that Rose would dare to call curiosity, but he didn't inquire.

The address turned out to be an ultra modern skyscraper surrounded and covered by so many lights it turned the night into day. Crowds of people hurried this way and that, enjoying their Friday night. The mood of the puellae magi was not so festive when Rose met them. "Is Nepeta not coming?" she asked, noting the final member's absence.

"I realize that you are curious about many things concerning puella magi," Kanaya dodged the question like oil to water, "And as educated about ourselves as we like to think we are, it has come to our attention that there are some gaping holes in what we know. We—I—asked you to attend this meeting with us so you can discover these things as well, and hopefully this will allow you to make… a more informed decision."

"I still can't believe we have to go here of all places," Terezi hissed through clenched, alarmingly sharp teeth, "There's got to be others in the city to talk to!"

"Vriska Serket is our only chance at the moment," Kanaya replied, her voice at once tense, "I do not want to be here having this conversation any more than either of you." Jade looked down at her Mary Janes. Rose narrowed her eyes; what had she missed?

Kanaya took out her phone and dialed a number—speed dial, Rose noticed. "Yes, Vriska?" she said, her tone wooden, "We have all arrived." There was some high-pitched chatter from the other end, then silence. Kanaya led them all into the lobby, where they were waved into an elevator by a neat man wearing a neat jacket. Kanaya pressed the button to the top floor—floor 88.

Rose disliked elevators, mostly because of the waiting. With stairs there was always something to focus on, an act to accomplish that while monotonous proved a little more interesting than staring at the back of Jade's head. Thankfully this elevator moved much faster than the one in the Striders' apartment building and they soon came to the top floor.

The doors slid open to a very neat hallway bookended with huge windows looking out on the glowing city. It was quiet, both in sound and in color. Nondescript landscape paintings hung along the walls in an attempt at elegance. The sterile scene was interrupted by a low bass beat reverberating through the opposite wall.

"Typical," Kanaya grumbled as she stepped out of the elevator and led the way to the only apartment door on the floor. She rapped on the door four times and stood back. The music stopped.

"That was only half!" a voiced flirted through the door.

Kanaya sighed, but knocked four more times. As soon as she took her hand away, Vriska flung open the door and leaned precariously against the doorway. She obviously hadn't dressed for the meeting, and was sporting a pair of old blue sweatpants and a black beater with an "8" printed on it. Rose could've smelled the number fetish from a mile away. "Welcome!" she drawled, "You guys're the lucky few who get to see the apartment of the famous Vriska Serket! C'mon in!" She swung up to standing and slunk away into her apartment.

Rose glanced at Kanaya and raised an eyebrow. "And you're sure she has whatever answers you need."

"Unfortunately," Kanaya said.

She moved to step into the apartment but Terezi shoved past them both and whipped her cane out in front of her much more dramatically than Rose had ever seen her. "Hey, where'd you say you are, Serket? I can't see, remember?" she sang sarcastically into the living room, "Doesn't sound like you clean around here, my cane's hitting a lot of crap!"

Rose looked down at the floor. Sure enough, all kinds of junk was scattered around the hardwood floors: eight-sided dice, those magic eight balls Rose hadn't seen since she was ten (all in pieces), and smashed plastic CD and DVD cases were scattered everywhere except the kitchen area. She also noted Terezi's deliberate walking pattern which involved stomping on every plastic disc case she could find.

"What, you mean you didn't wish for your vision back?" Vriska sneered from her place on a large navy sofa, "Fucking lame."

"How come you didn't wish for your mom to get better?!"

"What, and you did?"

Terezi gnashed her teeth and leaped at Vriska, raising her cane to bring it down over the taller girl's head when Jade jumped in and pushed Terezi off of her. Terezi landed in a pile of broken plastic shards, hissed, and took a defiant seat on the kitchen island.

Vriska smiled and reclined on her couch as if nothing had happened. "You said you wanted to talk, Kanaya, I didn't expect a party."

"I did," Kanaya said, sitting stiffly on a sofa facing Vriska, "These are fellow puellae magi from Alternia High School."

"Yeah but what about her?" Vriska pointed an accusing finger at Rose, "She doesn't have a gem, I can't see one."

"To be fair, your gem would not be visible if you would dress more conservatively," Kanaya replied, "Rose is not a puella magi, but she is very interested in what we are and I thought it wise to bring her to this discussion."

"Ugh, fine," Vriska frowned, "So. Nepeta's dead, huh?"

Rose's heart stopped. She tried for several seconds to force words out of her throat until she managed a strangled "What are you talking about?"

Vriska sat up. "Oh, what, you brought her here as a special guest but didn't even tell her why? Jeez, Kanaya, you're almost as bad as me!"

Kanaya looked at the floor and fiddled with her gem.

Vriska shrugged and turned to Rose. "Yeah, Nepeta died this morning. Well, I wouldn't say _died_… more like reached the end of her rope. Then you guys killed her."

"We _what?!_" Terezi shouted from her perch, "Vriska, we're already scraping the bottom of the barrel by asking for your help, don't feed us bullshit!"

"But I'm not," Vriska said, surprised, "Is that really a shock to you guys?"

"What's a shock?" Jade asked, tensing as Terezi hopped off the counter and onto her feet again.

"That the witch you killed when you found her was actually Nepeta," Vriska said, then adding as Terezi bared her teeth again, "No, really! Nepeta's soul gem got too corrupted, so she turned into a witch for you guys to kill."

"Stop saying that!"

"What, Pyrope? Stop saying what? The truth? You don't take anything but the stupid truth."

"Explain yourself," Kanaya interrupted with uncharacteristic bitterness, "What led you to believe Nepeta was the witch, and not killed by the witch herself?"

Vriska closed her eyes and nodded. "Finally, someone actually asking good questions. Well, if you want proof… describe the maze."

"Hm?"

"Just what I said, Kanaya. What did the maze look like?"

"It was bright and decorated like a child's room," Kanaya began slowly, "With mauled stuffed animals everywhere, mostly cats. There was also tea as a widespread motif."

"And the witch?" Vriska prompted. Rose wasn't sure if Vriska was enjoying the drama of drawing this out, or if she really just wanted them to come to their own conclusions.

"It was a… giant beast," Jade answered, "It was in this dark cave and there was blood everywhere and it was screaming…"

Vriska snapped her fingers at Jade. "See? Now I didn't really know Nepeta offline, but from what I knew of her online she loved a cup of tea just as much as a cat of any kind. You found the body in the maze, too, right?"

Jade nodded. "Yeah, and it wasn't hurt at all, which is nuts."

"I haven't figured that out yet," Vriska mused, standing up and grabbing a cigarette pack off the coffee table, "The body of the puella magi is always sucked into the maze when the witch is first born, but it's usually destroyed pretty quickly by the maze moving around. It's never, like, mauled, though." She flipped open her lighter and lit up a cigarette. "My house, my rules," she cut Kanaya off before she could object.

"Surely you could at least open a window," she muttered, getting up off the couch to do just that.

Rose narrowed her eyes at Vriska. "How do you know all this?"

"What, you think after fifteen months of this I haven't learned a thing?" Vriska sighed out a cloud of smoke.

"Even I must admit to that being an astonishingly long lifespan for a puella magi," Kyubey said, hopping through the open window and onto the coffee table. His bushy tail flicked back and forth as he took in the girls. "It seems you all are coming to terms with Nepeta's despair."

Terezi lunged. She grabbed Kyubey by the throat and smashed him down into the glass of the table. "What did you do to her?!" she hissed.

"She asked where witches came from," Kyubey replied, his eerie voice unobstructed by Terezi's assault, "I only told her. She took it rather hard."

Terezi bashed the animal's head into the table. Then again, and again and again until that bushy tail stopped twitching. Jade was screaming, and Terezi dropped the carcass onto the floor and backed away, her hands covered in bright red blood.

"Excuse me one moment," Kyubey said, hopping through the window to approach his carcass. The girls watched in horror as this new Kyubey neatly devoured his previous incarnation. When he had finished, he turned to the group and, licking his lips, his voice penetrated the room again. "Indeed, you were right about Nepeta, Vriska. Her soul gem got too dark and corrupted, and turned into a grief seed. She turned into a witch and died."

"But why would you do that?!" Terezi yelled at him.

Kyubey hopped up onto the kitchen island to be more on level with them. Rose stood up to join the group and get a better listen. "Why do you think puellae magi exist, and why do you think I create them? Just giving you a wish and giving you powers seems like an awfully one-sided bargain."

"We fight witches," Jade said, "That's our end of the deal!"

"No, you fight witches to collect grief seeds, which purify your soul gems," Kyubey said, "Fighting witches benefits your end as well. My end is that I get energy."

"Huh?" Vriska blinked.

"A long time ago—for you humans, at least—us Incubators discovered a powerful source of energy for our society. Apparently, the energy released from a puella magi turning into a witch, the moment when her emotions are most powerful and vulnerable, is incredibly powerful and efficient. It was a genius breakthrough in our science! I am one Incubator who was tasked with creating these energy sources."

"Fuck. Well, becoming a power plant for a society of alien bunnies definitely wasn't on my to-do list today," Vriska scowled, taking another drag of her cigarette.

Terezi whipped around to stare her down. "Aren't you at least a _bit_ enraged by this? We've been cheated!"

"And what'll you accomplish doing that?" Vriska asked, "We made our contracts, we chose this life. To what end we're living is a minor detail. It doesn't change anything."

"Is that how you've survived this long?" Terezi asked testily, "By not caring about anyone but yourself? That hasn't changed since you made your contract, at least!"

Vriska turned her cigarette around in her fingers and smiled faintly at it. She turned to Terezi and said, "Actually, yeah. That's exactly what I do. And you know what? It works just fine. I made a wish for myself, and work just for myself. I'm the only one who benefitted and the only one who'll pay if I ever get pulled down a slippery slope. Not like you total idiots drawing each other into this and dragging everyone down with you."

"A wise wish, I must say," Kyubey said, hopping over to Vriska's shoulder, "Those with wishes focused on others may meet an unwelcome realization in time. You cannot have hope without despair, you may only gain happiness if someone else loses it. Everything must remain in balance."

"All the kids you bully must add to your lifespan, you bitch."

"Hey, cool it, Redglare, I do my thing and you do yours."

"I don't bully people into liking me! And stop calling me that!"

Vriska giggled and took another drag. The apartment smelled heavily of cigarette smoke, so much so that Jade started to gag.

Kanaya took this as her cue. "Well, I think we have had our fill of life ruining for the day," she said, striding towards the door, "See you on Monday for classes, Vriska."

"Same to you," Vriska responded with a wink. They all scurried out the door, Rose looking into the apartment one last time before Kanaya slammed the door and herded them all into the elevator. The celebrity was smoking the last of her cigarette in her apartment for one, Kyubey perched on her shoulders, and staring out at the city like she was waiting for something. She seemed so lost, but Rose doubted Vriska even knew that.

* * *

><p>Bonus points to who gets the reference in the chapter title. Thank you for reading!<p> 


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